PTA holds auctions of WLL licences

* WorldCALL highest bidder for one block in the spectrum of 479 MHz for ITR

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: The auction of spectrum for the grant of Wireless Local Loop (WLL) licenses for Islamabad Telecom Region (ITR) and Rawalpindi Telecom Region (RTR) was held at the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) headquarters on Tuesday.

PTA Chairman Major General (r) Shahzada Alam Malik presided over the bidding, which was attended by PTA Member Finance Nehmatullah Toor and Member Technical Naseem Ahmed Vohra. The bidding for both the regions was held in the spectrum of 1.9 GHz, 450 MHz, 479 MHz and 3.5 GHz.

In the spectrum of 1.9 GHz for ITR, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL) gave the highest bid of Rs 290 million for one block, while the other two blocks were taken by DV Com and Telecard at the same price.

In the frequency of 450 MHz, three carriers were available. Great Bear International bid Rs 22 million each for two carriers, while PTCL got the third carrier.

WorldCALL Telephony obtained the only block available in the spectrum of 479 MHz at the highest bid of Rs 7 million. In the spectrum of 3.5 GHz, Burraq Telecom gave the highest bid of Rs 7 million for one block, while the other 6 blocks were taken by Telecard, DV Com, PTCL, Warid WLL, Microtech Links and Cyber Internet at the same cost.

In the RTR, out of three blocks in the spectrum of 1.9 GHz, PTCL got one block at the highest bid of Rs 199 million while the other two blocks were secured by DV Com and WorldCALL Telephony. Out of three carriers in the spectrum of 450 MHz, Telecard gave the highest bid of Rs 64 million and got one carrier, while DV Com and Great Bear got one carrier each at the same cost.

WorldCALL got the only block available in the spectrum of 479 MHz for Rs 17 million. Out of seven blocks in the spectrum of 3.5 GHz, one each was taken by Telecard, DV Com, PTCL, WorldCALL, Burraq Telecom, Warid WLL and Sachal Technologies at the base price of Rs 580,000.

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