The government has established a high-powered body to establish the 5G Strategic Plan and manage the rollout of next-generation technology and the spectrum auction.
Incentives for the release of 5G spectrum will also be proposed by the committee, which might be included in the Finance Bill 2022.
In 2023, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications plans to launch 5G. The 5G spectrum auction will be held by the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA).
The cabinet’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) approved the formation of the Broad-based International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT)/ 5G Technology Advisory Committee, according to sources.
The committee consists of the secretary of the IT and Telecom Division, the secretary of the Law and Justice Division, the chairman of the PTA, the executive director of the Frequency Allocation Board, and a member of the IT ministry’s telecom division (committee secretary).
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The ECC also established the 5G Strategic Plan committee’s terms of reference, which outlined how it would carry out its duties.
Industry insiders note out that Pakistan’s present 4G coverage is already limited, making the government’s rollout of 5G technology difficult.
It’s possible that the plan may take a few more years to implement, and the government will miss its aim of launching 5G in 2023.
In Pakistan, mobile spectrum is already accessible, but due to a disagreement about bid filing, telecom operators showed little interest in a recent auction.
The telecom companies wanted to quote their proposals in rupees, but the government wanted bids in dollars. As a result, with the exception of Ufone, all of the major operators avoided bidding for more spectrum.
In a recent assessment, the World Bank stated that Pakistan was not ready for 5G since a number of things needed to be fixed in order to facilitate the market.
The unavailability of large contiguous blocks of inexpensive spectrum, as well as expanded access to fibre backhaul, were also cited as impediments.
Another key difficulty for the 5G market was the lack of affordable 5G smartphones and other devices on a broad scale.
