Information and Communications Technology (ICT) experts recommended that the government immediately auction 3G/4G licenses.
The experts were speaking at the 57th meeting of the SDPI’s Study Group on ICT which emphasised on ‘Adoption of 3G/4G Technology by Pakistan’. The study was organised by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Thursday. The study group is comprised of the IT and telecom sector pioneers, consultants and practitioners. The participants highlighted the government’s failure to introduce 3G technologies, which the Pakistan Telecommunications Authority (PTA) was ready to roll out three years ago. They said 4G technologies are now being adopted by many countries around the world, including India. The experts said failure to auction the 3G and 4G licenses was not only hindering growth in the telecom sector, but also causing losses to the national economy. They urged the government to focus on setting obligatory performance benchmarks rather than focusing on generating revenues during the license auction process.