A Reuters story roundly berating the 3G/4G spectrum auction, published by Dawn here, has drawn sharp criticism from the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) who have denied the assertions made in the story as "incorrect and baseless."

A spokesman from the PTA asserted that the response received from 4 existing cellular mobile operators in Pakistan has been "encouraging and satisfactory" for the regulatory body and that it was factually incorrect that no operator had bid for the 4G (1800 MHz) category.

Furthermore the spokesman rebuked the claim made by Reuters that Telenor and Ufone had both bid for the 5 MHz spectrum only, by pointing to the Information Memorandum published by the PTA which had stated that the minimum category that operators could bid for would be the 10 MHz category.

PTA affirmed that it will be looking at all options now, including possible legal action against the news agency that broke the story. It deeply regretted that it was not contacted to provide confirmation as it is the sole body responsible for the auction. However, in an encouraging sign, the regulator stated that this would not affect the auction process, which was progressing "efficiently and transparently in accordance with the rules."