ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication (MoITT) issued policy directives to the regulator for the auction of spectrum in Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) and Gilgit-Baltistan (GB) on Thursday to improve the quality and reach of mobile telephony and broadband services in the two regions.
Additional spectrum for the state-owned telecom operator Special Communications Organisation (SCO) in AJK and GB was also approved by the government.
After receiving the policy order, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is likely to issue an Information Memorandum (IM) to all five cellular providers in the region.
In AJK and GB, cellular mobile services are currently provided by five operators: SCO, Jazz, Telenor, Zong, and Ufone.
The SCO, a MoITT subsidiary, was founded in 1976 with the mission of developing, operating, and maintaining all telecom services in the AJK and GB.
The government established a base price of $0.87 million per megahertz (MHz) in the 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz bands, and 16 MHz spectrum in the 1,800 MHz band and 30 MHz spectrum in the 2,100 MHz band were put up for auction for 15 years to the four mobile carriers. However, SCO has been granted 10 MHz of additional spectrum in both the 1,800 MHz and 2,100 MHz bands.
The auction will benefit the governments of both areas because the PTA will send a major portion of the auction revenues to the AJK and GB Councils.
According to the IT ministry’s policy directive, a considerable increase in demand for mobile broadband services was seen, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic. The ministry stated that “the ever-increasing reliance on mobile broadband services required the necessity for availability of extra spectrums to suit the connectivity needs of the population of AJK and GB.”
Source: www.dawn.com
