ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Telecom Authority is all set to hold the much-awaited and much-desired auction of next generation mobile services on today (Wednesday).
The auction process will start at 8am. Bidders will be allowed to log into the auction system. The first round of bidding will start at 10am. There will be multiple rounds of the bidding. The duration of each round will be at least 45 minutes or more while results will be announced after each round at the PTA website (www.pta.gov.pk). As per the details obtained from the market sources, first of all 10 MHz in 2100 MHz band for 3G services will be auctioned. After that two slots of 5 MHz in the same band will be auctioned and after that the remaining 10 MHz in that band will be presented for auction.
Four local mobile operators are taking part in the next generation spectrum auction of 3G and 3$ services. It is mandatory for all the bidders to win at least 10 MHz in 2100 MHz band to stand eligible to take part in two slots of 4G band of 1800 MHz.
The sources in the telecom industry revealed that there might be competition for the slots in 2100 MHz band of 3G services. But in case 2 companies win 10 MHz in the aforementioned band, they will stand eligible to take part in 4G services band, but there are 2 slots available in that band and only 2 companies seem to become eligible to bid for that, so that could be sold at the base price.
About the procedure, the spokesman for Pakistan Telecom Authority said, “The auction will take place using an electronic system which will allow the bidders to participate in the auction. The PTA has chosen the Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA) Auction mechanism.”
The SMRA is the most preferred auctioning mechanism and is widely used in modern day auctions worldwide. It is also preferred over the traditional open cry-out auctioning model as SMRA allows both auctioneer and bidder flexibility to simultaneously bid on lots of their choice, privacy and time to make educated decisions during the auction. Some of the recent auctions conducted in various countries were all SMRA-based, he further stated in a press statement issued on Tuesday.