What is 3G license auction? what is it about? 4 cellular companies have been recommended that? kindly mention brief detail about it. Regards.

As you and all other fellows must have read that 3G and 4G licenses have been auctioned today accumulating 1.187 Billion for the Govt. I will try to answer briefly to your questions and provide some general information about 3G and 4G.

1. What is 3G and 4G?
Ans: 3G (third generation) and 4G(fourth Generation) are new technologies that are supposed to act as an Upgrade to our existing 2G( GSM) and 2.5/2.75 G ( GPRS/EDGE) technologies.

2. How are these (3G and 4G) different from each other?
Ans: 3G is relatively old technology and 4G is the relatively newer (since 2006 onwards) being implemented across the world. 3G and 4G are different regarding their architectures and most importantly in providing end user internet and communication speeds. Following is an estimated comparison of speeds for 2G, 3G and 4G:

2G (GPRS): 144Kbits/s ( Kilo-bits per sec)
3G: 384Kbs/s on mobile device and about 2Mbps on stationary
4G: ideally should provide 100Mbps on mobile device and near to 1Gbps on stationary
** These speeds are for Downloads

3. Why has PTA/ Govt. taken so long to issue these licenses?
It’s a long debate to cut it short I will give you a few pertinent points:
a. PTA was not ready for issuing the licenses since complete framework documents for the license that state performance indicators, laws and quality measures were to be finalized first.
b. The Operators including Mobilink and PTCL (Ufone) were not ready to bid in the auctions
c. There was not enough mobile internet users density in Pakistan to tempt the Operators to show interest in up-gradation to 3G/4G

4. Why have the licenses been issued now?
a. Strict interest and push by Ministry of Finance to cover the Budget deficit
b. Operators interest due to saturation in market and increased internet users
c. Availability of cheap smart phones in market and increased popularity of using internet services and social media as means of communication
d. PTCL’s 800m $ stuck with Etisalat that it hasn’t been able to pay back to Govt. since its privatization which still seem unrecoverable in near future.

5. Why only four cellular companies participated in the Bids?
Only 4 companies qualified in the initial rounds of auction and the estimated higher than Intl. cost projected by ministry of Finance on indication by PTA resulted in wooing most of the international Bidders.
Also the lack of infrastructure and security concerns to initiate a new business at such a massive level did not seem appropriate to many Intl companies.
So the only participants bidding were Ufone , ZONG, Mobilink and Telenor.

6. How much spectrum has each company bought?
ZONG: 3G 10 Mhz and 4G 10 Mhz
Mobilink: 3G 10 Mhz
Telenor: 3G 5Mhz
Ufone: 3G 5 Mhz

So ZONG is the only Operator who has won a 4G license along with a 3G

7. How will these technologies benefit an average Pakistani citizen?
Unfortunately 3G/4G will not benefit all of the current 132 million mobile users in Pakistan. These technologies will only be helpful to the computer literate. The other users will emerge with time but not sooner.
The main usage apparently ( due to blocked Youtube) will be social media and Intl. IP calling through services such as Viber, Tango , Skype etc.

PS: the writer is a Senior Telecom Professional

Quote:

Originally Posted by Escobar 6. How much spectrum has each company bought? ZONG: 3G 10 Mhz and 4G 10 Mhz Mobilink: 3G 10 Mhz Telenor: 3G 5Mhz Ufone: 3G 5 Mhz So ZONG is the only Operator who has won a 4G license along with a 3G

First of all thanks brother for providing such fruitful information. I have some query relating to 3G and 4G.

1) As you mention in your above post that Zong, Telenor, Ufone ans Mobilink qualify/win the licence of 3G. now come to the point, in our routine life an auction is win only one participant, but here four compnies win the license, so what does it mean.? they share the geographical area of Pakistan among their self for coverage purpose or share its profit.
2) what is the licence period, i mean it life time licence or issue for some period.
3) How it create employment opportunities for common people.
4) what's it impact on normal mobile phone prices and smart phone prices. is the advance/smart mobiles prices are going to increase or decrease.

sorry may be some of my question are irrelevant to the topic.

Which network is best to use, in these days every network adertises that it is the only biggest network and fastest. Moreover, you have mentioned that ZONG has both 3G and 4G technologies unlike the rest of the networks, does it meant that it is the fastest network are likely to be in future. You have thrown a spot light on 3g and 4g. More or less my concept has been cleared. Thanks.

You are most welcome.
1.a) No, auctions don’t always have to have people or companies bidding for 1 specific item. In 3G/4G licenses auction PTA had 4*3G and 2*4G licenses on the table. So companies were free to bid for whichever service and band their business plans and pockets allowed.

1.b) Telecom companies don’t have to share the geographical areas, they use the same areas but do not interfere with other’s service because each operator uses a different frequency band in the frequency spectrum e.g.
the 5Mhz Ufone will use for 3G will be a different range of frequency ( say 2105Mhz) than the 5Mhz 3G band Telenor will be using( say 2110Mhz) in the same area and throughout the country.

3G band is allocated about 30Mhz from 2100Mhz frequency band
4G band is allocated about 20Mhz from 1800Mhz frequency band
2G GSM is currently being used in 900Mhz and 1800Mhz band by all telecom operators

2) I’m unsure about the 4G licenses but 3G licenses have been issued for 15yrs

3) It will definitely create jobs for Telecom, IT and business professionals but will not restrict to this because new technology will increase coverage requirements in turn creating Roll out projects ( installation of new equipment) which will create job opportunities at all skilled and unskilled levels e.g. technicians, drivers, laborers, engineers, electricians, civil works etc.

4.a) The mobile phone prices for calls and SMS won’t increase but the cost of 3G and 4G is dependent upon the Operator’s own business strategy e.g. if Zong wants to reduce price of 3G to compete with other 3 operators and present 4G as high priced exclusive service.

4.b) I think it would help more to the Mobile phone market than the people in general because it will definitely increase sales of smart phones. There always have been and will be high end and absurdly priced phones in the market but the people in general will benefit from the lower and mid ranged smart mobile phones for its ultimate communication capability at last i.e. the internet.

Dear Flyer ,
I cannot suggest to you the best service; you got to figure it out for yourself. All of them have almost the same rates and really confusing packages.
And Yes Zong is the only 4G license holder currently and if it stays that way then yes it is going to be the fastest internet service provider (ISP) in Pakistan

Thanks for the valuable information. Regarding point 7, why 3G and 4G wont benefit mobile internet users? and why they will only benefit computer users? as their license are being bought by mobile companies

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He didn't seem to mean that computer internet users would actually be getting more benefit. Actually you understood it wrong. He meant that all mobile users won't be reaping the fruits and only those mobile users would be getting benefits who are computer literate. Means who are well versed in using Internet on mobile. I guess now it clears.



Dear Escobar
Plz respond to the following.
So the 3G & 4G have finally been auctioned. However according to Dawn newspaper it would take a long time in trickling down the benefits of next generation services to laymen.
According to Dawn ,
The corporate clients and post paid customers are expected to be offered next generation services first and the prepaid customers would be given this facility in second phase.

Secondly, the more the govt is going to earn from the auction the higher would be the tariff in first phase.
The tariff would be three times higher and the date may also be limited.

Thirdly , in the first phase the service would be available in federal and provincial capitals only and would be expanded to other cities in the later phase. In the second phase which starts in a year time it would be expanded to 80 more major cities. And in the total four years it would be expanded to 90% of the country's population.

It shows that people out of 5 capitals would have to wait for long. ?






Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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And what about the package rates and different bundle rates? I think the pricing is going to be on the higher side and surely it won't be 5-10 rupees per day for unlimited internet...

@Escobar

I am curious to know in how much time the existing network services will be replaced by 3G/4G throughout country, any ideas

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I think 04 years will be a little too much time, companies who have paid millions of dollars would be eager to take the services to most customers ASAP in order to make speedy financial recoveries. Moreover there will be pressure by customers on companies. So I guess it should take from 06 months to 1 year for 3g/4g to reach throughout country, however it might be very costly. Just saying

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The precondition for existence of a higher humanity is not the state, but the nation possessing the necessary ability.