Pakistan is the only country in the South Asian region not to have tasted the wonders of 3G mobile services. Twice this year alone, the process of bringing 3G mobile services to Pakistan had to be aborted prematurely. Incompetence and vested interest both have been at play. This alone is costing us roughly 68 million rupees every day in opportunity cost.
The first question that comes to mind is what is 3G? Short for 3rd generation of mobile telecommunications technology, 3G is an upgrade on the currently deployed 2G technology in Pakistan. To put it in layman terms, 3G is to 2G what motorway is to GT road: faster, smoother and wider, 3G enables high-speed broadband connectivity in your handheld device. Speed comparisons in India have shown Internet on a 3G network to be 20 times faster than on a 2G network. A question that is often asked is why not 4G instead? It is important to understand that like most countries in the world, Pakistan practises a technology-neutral regime. The Government of Pakistan only auctions the frequency lots. The choice of a particular technology is left to the mobile operators. In the current scenario, the reason the impending auction is commonly referred to as a 3G auction is primarily because the spectrum being auctioned is preferable for 3G services, its ecosystem has fully evolved, whereas for 4G, the price of terminal devices is still too high for wide-scale adoption.
The next pertinent question is why should a common man care about 3G? Tomorrow, 3G can enable a student in a far-flung area of Balochistan to benefit from online lectures of top global universities from the palm of his hand. A farmer in a remote area could explore new techniques of harvesting without having to travel long distances. A lady health-worker in a rural area could bring state of the art health care to every doorstep by linking her digital ultrasound machine with a specialist doctor stationed hundreds of miles away. Access to 3G mobile connectivity will empower people by bringing essential and richer communication to their doorstep. As per the World Bank study, every 10 per cent increase in 3G broadband proliferation leads to a 1.4 per cent growth in a country’s GDP. In short, it is a digital revolution that will not only benefit the country at large, but also the people at every tier of society.
There are many who have already written off the possibility of 3G services coming to Pakistan any time soon. But as the legend goes, when there is a will, there is a way; we have not only managed to keep the process going against all odds, with the hiring of renowned international telecommunication consultants, we are just a few steps away from the actual proliferation of 3G mobile services across Pakistan. Dr Rob Nicholls, who will be advising on spectrum valuation and regulatory issues and Mr Dennis Ward, who will be the lead auction design expert, have amongst each other conducted frequency spectrum auctions yielding over 10 billion dollars in licence fees across the globe. Their enriched experience will help ensure a fully transparent and optimal auction, which could generate valuable foreign exchange of over one billion dollars in licence fees for Pakistan. It would lead to approximately another one billion dollars in infrastructure development over the next couple of years and create over 40,000 jobs.
An auction facilitation centre would be set up to keep media and all stakeholders abreast of all developments. To further enhance transparency, the actual auction would be conducted in the presence of leading media personnel. Our goal is to make it a model auction with transparency and optimal yield as prime objectives. We look forward to ideas and suggestions (which can be emailed to advisor@moitt.gov.pk) from everyone to further enhance its optimality.
The last few months have been a roller coaster ride. Without the unflinching support of the president, the prime minister and the finance minister, this auction would have been long sabotaged. With the internationally reputed consultants onboard, the wheels have been set in motion and the end goal is within two months sight. The government is fully determined, the regulator is all geared up, the mobile operators are zealous and the consumers have long awaited this. All that is needed now is the collective will and ownership of all of us to cross the finish line. Together, we shall.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 22nd, 2012.
COMMENTS (16)
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Dr saab please also comment on why this govt which has only 4 months of term left wants to auction the 3G license and plunder the money and then blame it on the caretaker setup?
Please also comment on why Pakistan aims on raising only 1 to 2 billion dollars from the auction whereas India raised 15 Billion USD? Even if you rationalise the figure given the size of the two markets the figure falls in the range of 5 to 7 billion USD. Where might the other 4 Billion USD go? Doesn't take to be a IVY grad to answer this does it? Btw the incumbent chairman PTA has a tarnished reputation in terms of his performance in EOBI and the scandals including transfer of data to foreign embassies. I urge everyone to google farooq awan exposed..
" 3G can enable a student in a far-flung area of Balochistan to benefit from online lectures of top global universities from the palm of his hand."
Is 3G not being over-rated here e.g. UK 3G service does not support smooth video streaming over 3G and many phone apps wont even bother unless you are on WiFi. You need a lot better coverage and less NW congestion to achieve good quality streaming.
Where we have waited so long - why not wait a bit more... switch to digital TV and launch 4G.
Like we are believing it.. !
I hope Pakis get 3G soon so that they can retain their record of being no 1 in porn searches around the world :P
one of the classic channels of ict and development is the the provision of content that supports the access and creates demand for use of such technology. while the efforts and visions of advisor are commendable its also important that the government takes the charge and creates online digital content for use on handhelds. bringing 3g will actually be done by telcos who are private, government it's just auctioning the channels. what government should do is to provide access to basic government services over 3g. examples would be registrations of license plates, id cards, consumer complaints, etc etc. take examples from gds.government.uk. keep up the good work. 3g license is a small piece of our expectations from you!
And the government didn't save this bit for election time campaigning?
Given that 3G is almost a 10 year old technology, it would be best to skip that and move straight to LTE. 3G would mean that we are yet to reach 4G and the world is already rolling out LTE.
I think the 3G auction should be shelved and the government should expend their resources on monitoring whether late night immorality is still continuing despite the PTA ban. Maybe these lusty, sexually-charged couples are now talking on land lines. Or skype. Can we ban skype? How about the internet? It's a known fact that the majority of internet users are infidels. Why then do we allow our children to use this satanic medium?
Death Penalty for All Internet Users!
PTA has a number of incompetent people who have been creating hurdles in this process for a couple of years. They killed the process twice this year. They may try to sabotage it even now. As for the mobile companies, not all were eager initially. However, this may have changed now. Lastly, there is a mafia of some local loop and broadband license holders, who may not want 3G to come to Pakistan as it directly impacts their businesses. My 2 cents.
any auction date ???????
If the president, prime minister, foreign minister, mobile phone companies and the consumers are ready, who EXACTLY was a hurdle in bringing 3G services to Pakistan?
Whatever way you conduct auction, just bring us 3G. Our smartphones are yawning for the want of 3G.
The 3G auction story in Pakistan is a very sad one. Mobile providers have been excited about it for a couple of years. The issue appears to be red tape from government side. This is inexcusable. It is not like the power crisis where there are serious cash flow and line loss issues. Rather, it is simply a matter of executing an auction based on international standards and letting the private sector take care of the rest. Pakistan needs every form of economic stimulus and foreign exchange inflow that it can get. Not urgently capitalizing on low hanging fruit such as 3G demonstrates terrible governance and inability to execute simple agendas. Very sad to hear this story.
Doctor Sahab - Thanks for the informative article. My only question would be pertaining to the demand side. What is in it for a service provider or a consumer? Unless one billion dollar or more in infrastructure investment can be recouped through expansion of user base, this cost will be passed onto consumer in the form of price hike (most likely). Is the Pakistani consumer ready to pay extra for 3-G services?
i think its about time.. if it takes any longer due to any more delays, then the technology would become too outdated to be of any good use..