Initially, eleven international consultants/JVs/firms submitted EOIs. However, one submission from JHK Construction, a construction company that reportedly submitted an EOI by mistake, was excluded. Consequently, PTA shortlisted the remaining ten firms.

The government aims to complete the 5G spectrum auction by April 2025, according to well-placed sources.

The shortlisted international consultant firms/JVs include:

• Aetha Consulting Ltd & Specure GmbH
• Coleago Consulting Limited
• Communicators Globe (Pvt.) Ltd and Cenerva Limited
• Detecon Consulting FZ-LLC
• VTT Global NE&S
• Frontier Economics Limited

The terms of reference (ToRs) for the consultancy firms involve developing a strategy to maximize the release of IMT Spectrum for technology-neutral Next Generation Mobile Broadband Services, considering international best practices tailored to Pakistan’s economy, society, and telecommunications market.

This consultancy will focus on ensuring regulatory consistency for investors, facilitating mobile broadband proliferation, and ensuring the future sustainability of the telecommunications sector, with an emphasis on socio-economic development. The ToRs include:

• Valuation of spectrum for available bands with future projections aimed at achieving economic growth and incentivizing foreign investment.
• 5G launch and implementation modeling based on international and regional best practices, with a focus on prospective use cases for Pakistan and viable monetization models.
• Designing an investment-oriented spectrum auction to provide opportunities for both existing operators and prospective new entrants to acquire maximum IMT spectrum to support improved ICT infrastructure and broadband services.

Additionally, the consultant will provide policy recommendations and reforms to increase infrastructure investment, broadband proliferation, and business/sector sustainability and growth. The consultancy will also involve comparing Pakistan’s existing cellular/IMT spectrum assignments with regional practices, highlighting gaps, and suggesting phased auctions of paired spectrum in the 700 MHz, 1800 MHz, and 2100 MHz bands, as well as unpaired spectrum in the 2300 MHz, 2600 MHz, and 3500 MHz bands.

Other key tasks include:

• Determining per MHz spectrum prices for the mentioned bands in USD and PKR, with future projections for the next three years using demand and supply side models.
• Offering scenario-based options for per MHz prices, payment terms, rollout obligations, etc.
• Providing recommendations based on international standards to limit human exposure to electromagnetic fields and mitigation techniques related to health hazards in denser 5G networks.
• Preparing a report on the valuation of spectrum, including base prices in USD and PKR for the paired and unpaired spectrum bands, with future projections for the next three years.