3G, 4G licences’ auction challenged in IHC

E-Paper | June 30, 2026

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) will take up a petition filed against the auction of 3G and 4G licences on Monday.

The petitioner Chaudhry Mohammad Akram Sajid in his petition alleged that the federal government had auctioned 3G and 4G licences at a throwaway price giving huge loss to the national exchequer.

Besides, he alleged that the auction of 3G and 4G spectrum was made in violation of Public Procurement Regulatory Authority (PPRA) rules. Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) initiated the process of 3G and 4G licence on March 17 when it published the final Information Memorandum. Pakistan raised $903 million through auction of 3G and US$210 million through the auction of 4G spectrum.

The petitioner contended that the PTA chairman had violated the provisions of Information Memorandum, PEPRA and alleged that it reduced the 3G and 4G spectrum price in collusion with the existing telecom operators (bidders), causing major loss to national exchequer.

He said in India 3G spectrum auction fetched $22 billion whereas in Pakistan it brought less than $1 billion to the exchequer.

The petitioner cited Federation of Pakistan through Secretary Ministry of information technology, chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Pakistan Mobile Communication Limited (Mobilink), Telenor Pakistan, s Pakistan Telecom Mobile Limited (Ufone), CM Pak Limited (Zong) and Warid Telecom as respondents.

It said that there are rumours that Warid was purposely kept out of the bidding process but even then the said telecom company is going to launch 4G service, which was evident from the recent text messages to its customers.

He contended that since Warid had not participated in the bidding process, it should not be allowed to use 3G and 4G spectrum.

The petitioner said the entire auction process, including fixing the reserve price and last minute change in number of 3G spectrum lots, lacked transparency.

The petitioner requested the court to declare the bidding process as illegal and unlawful and restrained the telecom operating companies from using 3G and 4G spectrum.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2014

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Malik Asad is an Islamabad-based reporter for Dawn with two decades of experience covering legal affairs, judicial developments, and the civil bureaucracy. He can be found on X at @asadrp.

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AJamal

May 25, 2014 09:05am

Now this judiciary will decide business matters. It fails to provide justice to the poor and unable to punish the terrorists due to fear.

Recommend 0

uzair

May 25, 2014 09:53am

Yeah the Pakistanis 3g lovers will hate this petitioner. In the west, billions are made over spectrum. If it wasn't for reserved price, you'd be suprised how much they would've been sold for. Then we ask why is Pakistan going down the hill. Give pakistanis roti, kapra, makan, and now 3g, they will turn their eye away from all these corruptions.

Recommend 0

Ali

May 25, 2014 10:08am

Its surprising how na

Recommend 0

Kaleem

May 25, 2014 10:19am

India sold it in $22 billion while we sold in $1 billion. India is 7 times bigger in population, one thing. Their middle class is much thicker than us, another thing. Do you really expect more than $1 billion when NO new bidder came other than our regular telcos. IHC can keep taking up such cases but people are observing judiciary closely now. Warid had got enough band to be qualified for 3G and they didnt need to purchase 5 Mhz. Move on.

Recommend 0

GS@Y

May 25, 2014 11:42am

Always the party poopers in Pakistan!

Recommend 0

Muhammad Imtiaz

May 25, 2014 12:13pm

telenor, warid payed 293 million$ for 2g license for 12 years. now for 3 g they are paying the same amount, and for 4 G even less. so rightly this matter is to be taken to court. if India can produce big scam in which ambanis are at center, we can expect similar can happen in Pakistan.

Recommend 0

ebad

May 25, 2014 01:06pm

@Kaleem Fully agree with you we cant compare apple with oranges. But still corruption should be taken to task in case any favoritism was made in exchange of personal benefits.

Recommend 0

imran ali

May 25, 2014 02:39pm

it seems lawyer and judiciary has no work...all the pending cases decided

Recommend 0

Just Someone

May 25, 2014 02:50pm

@AJamal: the govt. will make money out of the GST and the with holding tax on the mobile bills. Let it be that way. Already the judiciary has made some very bad business decisions such as reversing the privatization of steel mills which has cost the country more than 300 billion if you account for the losses and the cancellation of LNG import licenses in 2009 / 2010 which has exacerbated the energy crises. The chairmanship of PCB is another joke. All this petition will serve would be to further delay the launch of 3G services and nothing else.

Recommend 0

Faisal Yaqoob

May 25, 2014 04:12pm

Shame on IHC for taking up such cases which has no ground and ignoring the public cases who are crying for justice

Recommend 0

khanm

May 25, 2014 05:46pm

there is break down of every institutions of the State, such as the judiciary, were seriously weakened, to the extent that the citizenry justifiably feared a breakdown in law and order. The business community has been hit by a slump in sales and confidence, leading to reduced earnings and loss of jobs. The people have lost faith and major businesses are being shifted elsewhere so much so even Nawaz Sharif is investing his money somewhere else

Recommend 0

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