Pakistan Government Seeks $20 Billion in 3 Years from 3G Auction

Federal Minister of Finance and Revenue Senator Ishaq Dar presented the Budget 2013-14 in the National Assembly on 12th June, 2013. The budget is termed as “Investment and Business Friendly Budget” by the new government and it aims to raise the economy of Pakistan.

A very important part of the budget is the 3G licensing in the country, the new Government has decided take necessary steps for the auction process and start the invitations for competitive bids for the auction of radio frequency spectrum of 30 MHz in the 1900/2100 MHz band.

Senator Ishaq Dr while presenting the budget in the National assembly said:

“3G telecom licenses will be auctioned and foreign exchange reserves will be raised to $20 billion in three years. So the auction for 3G technology will be held soon and the borrowing from the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) will be reduced.”

The Minister also noted that after the auction of the 3-G licenses for the cellular phones the mobile industry grows further creating more employment opportunities.

The government has allocated PKR. 120 Billion from the proceeds of the 3G auction proposed to be held in July. This is a clear jump of PKR. 40 Billion from the previous PKR. 79 Billion allocated in 2012 and the year before. While, as usual they did not provide many details on how many license but the increase amount could be coming from additional spectrum to be made available for left over operators, 850 MHz sale and the PKR devaluation versus USD.