Auction of 3G licenses: IT ministry fails to engage consultant
Finance Ministry is reportedly disappointed at the pace of 3G auction of licenses in the current fiscal year as the regulator and Ministry of Information Technology (IT) Ministry have failed to make any progress towards hiring a consultant during the last five months.
A senior official of Finance Ministry said he was not hopeful that sale of 3G spectral would be possible in the current fiscal year and estimated that there would be a shortfall of the budgeted Rs 79 billion in revenue for the current year which in turn would have an adverse impact on the fiscal deficit for the current fiscal year.
He reportedly held IT and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), the Regulator responsible for the inordinate delay in the process during the last five months. The process which could have been completed before October 2012 is going to be delayed even for another couple of months and the roll out of the spectrum may not be possible in the current fiscal year.
Official sources revealed that the government may start investigating the causes for the inordinate delay in auction of 3G licenses on the recommendation of Auction Supervisory Committee (ASC). The ASC in its last meeting observed that some officials were deliberately delaying auction and recommended that the IT Ministry probe the reasons behind the delay.
The auction of 3G spectrum has been delayed for the third time with the ASC recommending hiring an Independent Advisory Group (IAG) instead of a consultant. Following the recommendations of Auction Supervisory Committee (ASC), Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) had reinitiated the process of hiring IAG but the process was unlikely to be completed in the current year, officials maintained. Sources further said that due to delay in 3G auction, a loss of Rs 38 million was being borne by the national exchequer per day, while up till now a loss of Rs 22-25 billion had so far been incurred.
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