According to top IT Ministry sources, the rollout of 5G technology in Pakistan will take place over a 10-month period, and the administrative measures required in terms of fiscal and regulatory interventions for cellular mobile operators to take part in the 5G spectrum auction have already begun.
The Pakistani government needs to finish the process of introducing 5G technology throughout the nation within eight to ten months.
Meetings With Telcos and Stakeholders To Expedite 5G Launch
The coverage and growth of new technology across the nation within the allotted time is the government’s main objective.
According to officials, the IT Ministry has organized many meetings with telecom companies and other interested parties in order to hasten the launch.
The Ministry of IT and Telecom is aiming to provide tenable incentives/initiatives to engage telcos and stakeholders involved while keeping in mind the current economic scenario.
Launch of 5G in 10 months
The government would first inform all interested parties that 5G would be launched and would draft a policy order.
According to sources, the Frequency Allocation Board (FAB) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) would both get the approved policy.
The PTA would be responsible for carrying out the necessary process while the FAB would be required to specify frequency bands.
The PTA will release an RFP (Request for Proposal) for hiring a 5G consultant firm for the auction after receiving the policy instruction for it from the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom.
After bids are submitted, technical development and then the opening of financial bids will take place. A contract would then be signed with the experienced expert.
The consultant(s) chosen for the job will be in charge of organizing the auction in a way that is open, competent, and successful.
The report’s completion and submission to the auction advisory committee would take the consultant at least two months.
The benchmarks, prices, and bands would then be approved and sent to the ECC before being sent to the cabinet.
Following this, the PTA would release an Information Memorandum (IM). Later, a spectrum award and payment procedure would be implemented after an auction.
All of the timelines specified assume that there will be no objections or legal action.
Caretaker IT Minister Announcement
Dr. Umar Saif, the interim federal minister for information technology and telecommunications, recently declared that Pakistan will introduce 5G services within ten months.
As a result of the significant Capex and Opex requirements for the introduction of 5G in Pakistan, telecom providers have suggested that the government adopt a model to profit from 5G developments instead of spectrum fees and taxes.
Telecom companies have suggested tax discounts in spectrum costs and applications for local phone production, according to official records.
In Pakistan, one-window procedures for ROW judgments are also becoming a need, they continued. “Pakistan launched 3G and 4G with very mature systems in 2014. We can move in the 5G direction certainly but the government of Pakistan/Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MOITT) should incentivize to make this transition a success,” operators added.
Operators urged that a novel, substantially new, and workable 5G policy be introduced, taking the following factors into account;
- free spectrum for the first five years with zero taxes on the import of equipment and 5G handsets/devices,
- any proposal of an auction should be after five years, once the use cases have developed and
- policy intervention required to ban 2G/3G handset local production as well as import.
By the end of March 2023, the country’s two previous administrations intended to hold an auction for the 5G spectrum, with the initial rollout taking place in major cities.
However, insiders added that the plan was affected by political unrest, economic hardship, and obstacles to LCs.
Sources claimed that less than 1% of users in the country could buy such handsets, making it difficult for 5G to present a viable business case in the next two years.
People believe that if 5G is introduced in the nation, better internet would be available, but government initiatives for wider adoption could already make 4G available.
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