A United States-based international consultancy firm has been selected to provide consultancy services to the Government of Pakistan for the spectrum auction/release of IMT Spectrum to improve the generation of Mobile Broadband Services in the country. The firm, NERA, was chosen for having the lowest financial bid of $0.750 million.
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued a letter of intent (LOI) to NERA, which is required to respond within seven working days. NERA, with headquarters in the US and offices in Europe and the Far East, is well-regarded for its expertise in economic and commercial modeling for the telecom industry and government organizations, particularly in spectrum evaluation. The 5G spectrum auction is planned to be completed by April 2025.
All five international consultants qualified in the technical bids to provide consultancy services to the government of Pakistan. The financial bids of the five firms were opened on October 3, 2024. After due diligence by PPRA, no concerns were raised on NERA in both technical and financial evaluations. Consequently, PTA issued a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the consultancy firm.
The international consultants/firms who submitted their technical and financial bids were: Aetha Consulting Limited; Detecon Consulting FZ-LLC; Frontier Economics Limited; KomKonsult (Private) Limited; and National Economic Research Associates Inc. The consultant will advise on necessary policy actions and reforms for increased infrastructure investment, broadband proliferation, and business/sector sustainability and growth.
The report will compare Pakistan’s existing cellular/IMT spectrum assignments with regional practices, highlight any gaps, and suggest phase-wise auctions of paired spectrum in the 700 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2100 MHz bands, as well as unpaired spectrum in the 2300 MHz, 2600 MHz, and 3500 MHz bands. The report will also determine the per MHz spectrum price for the mentioned spectrum bands in USD and PKR for the next 3 years using both demand and supply side models.
It will include innovative payment options like flexible/dynamic installment plans and scenario-based options for per MHz price, payment terms, rollout obligations, etc. Additionally, a report on the valuation of the spectrum, including base price in USD and PKR for paired spectrum in the 700 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2100 MHz bands, as well as unpaired spectrum in the 2300 MHz, 2600 MHz, and 3500 MHz bands, will be provided with future projections for the next 3 years.
