The expiration date of the mobile service providers’ licenses is quickly approaching, and it is being reported that the government has still not issued any framework for renewal of their licenses.
This has caused a great frenzy among the mobile service providers. It is to be noted that the licenses of three major mobile operators in Pakistan i.e. Warid, Telenor, and CMpak are to expire in 2019 and the delayed response is causing a great amount of uncertainty.
As per the laws set by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) the government should have issued a license renewal framework about one and a half year ago. It is said that the delayed response by the authorities can cause a serious setback to the service operators and will impact mobile phone users as well.
Furthermore, the mobile operators also show concern about the huge amount for license renewals that are to be demanded by the government in order to gain handsome revenues. As the cellular companies not only need to renew their licenses but they also require additional spectrum with the increase in the number of subscribers.
Overall, the service providers have shown willingness to buy that spectrum if the renewal is priced at the same level of $291M as that of Ufone’s in 2014 including the same conditions.
