PTA partners with NERA to roll out 5G spectrum auction by April 2025

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has issued a letter of intent to National Economic Research Associates (NERA), a top-ranking US-based consultancy firm, to provide services for the spectrum auction and release of IMT Spectrum.

This move aims to enhance Next Generation Mobile Broadband Services in Pakistan, to complete the 5G spectrum auction by April 2025.

NERA, with offices in Europe and the Far East, boasts extensive expertise in economic and commercial modeling for the telecom industry and government organizations, particularly in spectrum evaluation.

The firm emerged as one of the top two companies in technical bids and offered the lowest financial bid of $0.750 million.

Aetha Consulting Limited and NERA were tied in technical bids, but NERA’s financial bid secured its position. All five international consultants, including Detecon Consulting FZ-LLC, Frontier Economics Limited, KomKonsult (Private) Limited, and National Economic Research Associates Inc., qualified in technical bids.

NERA’s scope of work includes advising on policy actions and reforms for increased infrastructure investment, broadband proliferation, and business growth.

The firm will also compare Pakistan’s existing cellular/IMT spectrum assignments with regional practices, highlighting gaps and suggesting phase-wise auctions for paired and unpaired spectrum bands.

Additionally, NERA will determine per MHz spectrum prices in USD and PKR, providing future projections for the next three years using demand and supply side models. The firm will also propose innovative payment options and provide a report on spectrum valuation, including base prices for paired and unpaired spectrum bands.