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(For PC World Pakistan)

The fate of 3G licenses seems to be in a sort of titillating balance as various parties in Pakistan fight both for and against the introduction of 3G licensing in the country. While on the one hand there are government organizations all set to hold the auctioning of 3G licenses in the country by March 2012, there are telecom operators in the local telecom sector, such as Mobilink and Zong, who have specifically stated their interest in getting 3G licenses. The scenario now gets somewhat political with leading opposition parties in the country stating that the government should not opt for auctioning off 3G licenses yet.

This was recently stated in various reports, including the one added here. “Government of Pakistan’s plan to auction new telecom licenses came under scrutiny yesterday when opposition senators warned the government to not go ahead with the plan without taking them into confidence. The senators included Senator Pervez Rashid of PML-N, Haji Adeel, Ilyas Bilour of ANP, Col. Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi (retd) of MQM and Prof. Khurshid of JI amongst others. Terming the auction a “license to loot”, the senators demanded the chair block its issuance. They have stated it is not viable to issue the advanced technology at such cheap rates and the time-period factor is not acceptable at any cost. They further said that with such relaxed rules, the auction would be more like a charity.”

While we certainly do not, unlike our esteemed politicians, pretend to know the ins and outs of politics or those concerns whereby the introduction of 3G Technology in the country should be delayed, it cannot yet be denied that the Pakistani audience is, as a general rule, more or less ready for 3G Technology in the country. According to a report published some months back, Pakistani mobile operators have been contemplating the launch of 3G Technology, for at least the past 3 years. According to this same report, “Procrastinating the launch earlier had been justified by nominal GPRS subscriptions in the country, presence of costly multi-mode (GSM/UMTS) handsets, and only a small percentage of existing 3G-enabled cell phones within the subscribers reach by 2008, as compared to today.”

Absar Taqvi, Team Lead at Zumbeel.com had said that “3G and all other newer technologies are very data-rich technologies, and if you really want them to give good revenues to service providers, you have to create an immense need for them as well.” He had suggested telecom service providers get various segments of the society to understand how 3G could benefit them. This could involve creating more informative advertisements that educate people on how to use 3G services to pay bills, or download and watch movies or perform a million other tasks that could enhance their lifestyles. Then, as Absar put it, these service providers could “get back to customers and focus on telling them that they now have a million applications ready in our applications store that can be rendered to people over 3G networks.”

And now, it really seems as though the situation might just finally have been greatly altered. The smartphones for both low and high-end markets that have recently been flooding Pakistan have had a lot to do with how people in Pakistan now view 3G Technology. Furthermore, the excessive revenue generation over handsets driven by mobile multimedia, have only proved how ready the local market actually is for 3G. Then again, local telecom providers, of which five are currently operating in the country, have all shown an inclination to launch 3G in Pakistan. Mobilink and Ufone have partnered to launch smartphones that are generally both 2G and 3G compatible, Zong and Mobilink have at various times publically stated their desire to bid in the upcoming 3G license auctions and the other telecom operators are also gearing up for the launch.

In this regard, Rashid Khan, president of Pakistan Mobile Communication Limited also known as Mobilink briefed that “the firm “is evaluating the information memorandum of 3G spectrum and has decided to participate in the bidding”. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has set the auction date for March 29, 2012 and will allow a maximum number of three licenses for 3G services. Furthermore, as per the agreement, a firm cannot bid for more than two spectrum.

Several of the local, leading mobile companies already bought the requisite equipment to launch and operate 3G in the country. The Government is all set to generate an estimated PKR 75 billion through this auction. The bid starts at $210 million, (the bids for 2G Technology started at $290 million) so it is expected that all the local telecom operators will go for 3G licenses. The stage is all set for 3G licensing in the country… all that is actually needed is for the star of the show, the 3G license themselves to become available in Pakistan.

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