Next generation services: PTA selects consultant for spectrum auction

Signs contract with consultants from US, UK, Singapore and Spain.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and Value Partners Management Consulting Limited (VPMCL) signed a formal contract at the PTA headquarters on Thursday for the provision of consultancy services for the auction of next generation services spectrum.

After the completion of evaluation process for the selection of a consultant of international repute, under the directive of the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom, VPMCL was declared successful. VPMCL is a consortium of consultants from the US, UK, Singapore and Spain.

The consultants would provide professional analysis, inputs and recommendations for the entire process of spectrum auction according to the PTA’s Request for Proposals (RFPs) and Terms of References (ToRs). They would also ensure competition and complete transparency in the auction.

Most of the telecom operators around the world have embraced next generation mobile services, enabling them to provide their customers with diversified voice and data services, thus sparking social and economic growth and increasing their revenues.

“The auction of next generation mobile services is a necessary step towards modernisation of mobile telephone system in Pakistan. With the auction, mobile phone users in the country would be able to transmit and receive high speed data through their handsets,” the PTA said in a statement.

Likewise, with high speed data, consumers would enjoy video calls, internet browsing and downloading at relatively higher speeds than the currently available GPRS/Edge networks.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 20^th, 2013.

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