Arrangements completed for auction of additional spectrum

A freelancer policy has been drafted to address the problems of freelancers as the federal government has completed arrangements for commercial auction of additional spectrum.

Arrangements completed for auction of additional spectrum

It is pertinent to mention here that the government already approved a new additional spectrum policy for commercial auction of next generation mobile and internet service after which connectivity of mobile phones and broadband facility will improve in urban as well as far-flung areas of the country.

Information Technology Minister Syed Aminul Haq said that the auction would be conducted for both 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz frequencies on September 16.

He also said that the government has resolved the problems faced by the companies for the auction of spectrum, adding that the major companies have assured to participate fully in the auction.

“The companies told that in case of power outage, the mobile phone service would not be affected and if the mobile service was affected, notices would be issued to the companies,” the minister maintained.

He also said that freelancers can play a pivotal role in economic stability and foreign exchange earnings. “Freelancers Policy has been drafted to address the problems of freelancers and all stakeholders are being consulted in this regard. Freelancers received export remittances of $396 million last year. The export target for freelancers is set at $3 billion over the next three years,” he added

Syed Aminul Haq mentioned that the data of all the websites hosted in NTC is safe, while the data of the host companies is safe in the private data center. “In February, all the institutions were informed to use NTC s data center,” he added.

The IT minister further said that Prime Minister Imran Khan abolished the tax on mobile data on his request, hoping that he will also try to remove the tax on calls longer than five minutes.

Earlier, as a follow-up of the policy directions, the PTA has granted six months permission to PMCL (Jazz) and CMPak (Zong) to conduct test and trial of 5G Technology under limited environment. The permission is limited to testing purposes only on a non-commercial basis.

It said commercial launch of 5th Generation services in Pakistan would be done in due course following a process involving policy directions by Government of Pakistan and necessary regulatory approvals.

Originally published at Dunya news