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By Sabeeh Zanair :
The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has confirmed that the country’s long-awaited 5G spectrum auction will take place on March 10, with no changes expected to the announced timeline.
Officials said the auction is designed to strengthen the telecom sector and boost revenues for mobile operators. A total of 597 megahertz (MHz) across multiple frequency bands will be offered, with existing operators required to acquire at least 100 MHz each. The allocation process will follow a multi-round electronic clock auction format, beginning with the 2,600 MHz and 3,500 MHz bands in the opening round.
Following the auction, commercial rollout of 5G services is expected within three to six months, as operators will need to deploy new infrastructure.
PTA Chairman Major General (Retd) Hafeezur Rehman said improved spectrum availability would enhance call quality and significantly increase mobile data speeds. He noted that nearly 50 million new users have joined mobile networks over the past five years, while only 10 MHz was added during the 2021 auction, creating capacity constraints.
He added that better services would likely push up the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), which has already grown from $0.7 to $1.3. The regulator estimates that mobile broadband speeds could improve by around 25% after the auction.
The government has also introduced incentives to support operators, including the removal of right-of-way charges — previously about Rs36,000 per kilometre annually to accelerate fibre network expansion. Operators will be allowed one year to make capital investments without upfront spectrum payments, enabling them to focus on infrastructure upgrades.
To ensure service quality, new obligations have been imposed. Telecom companies must expand 5G coverage beyond Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar and Quetta, while increasing fibre-to-the-site (FTTS) connectivity from 20% to 35% by 2035.
Minimum speed benchmarks have also been raised. For 4G services, download speeds will increase to 20 Mbps in 2026-27 and 50 Mbps by 2030-35. For 5G, minimum download speeds will start at 50 Mbps and reach 100 Mbps by 2035, with latency targets set at 35 milliseconds. Upload speeds will be set at 20% of download speeds for both technologies.
Authorities confirmed that applications, accompanied by a $15 million bank guarantee, must be submitted by February 27. Qualified participants will take part in mock bidding rounds before the main auction. If demand exceeds available spectrum in any band, prices will rise through successive bidding rounds.
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