Technology Neutral licenses now for Pakistan telco Operators

All WLL and cellular Mobile companies in Pakistan have been charged by Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for licensing cost as technology neutral for last 20 years , “Technology Neutral” has been declared now by a court of the law.

PTA officials including former Chairman of PTA, has been justified as they were being investigated by NAB for to allow Warid Telecom in 2014 to offer 4G services on its existing spectrum  that is has purchased in 2014

To get technology neutral license, there are a few things to keep in mind:
• Attempts to extract additional revenue has misfired and held back the introduction of new mobile technologies;
• While a renewal process provides an opportunity to re-issue spectrum licences as neutral, regulators should not delay the introduction while waiting for the expiry dates of existing licences;
• When assigning new spectrum, regulators should do so in a technology neutral manner or at the very least not restrict the introduction of next-generation technologies, such as 5G.
Technical advancements are in fact making the decision to allow and actively support technology neutrality easier. The options for managing refarmed bands have improved with leaps and bounds, for example.
The most important development is the ability to ‘gracefully refarm’ bands so they are used simultaneously for several technologies – including 4G and 5G. This allows for the introduction newer technologies in line with increasing mobile broadband demand while at the same time supporting legacy users. For regulators this means they no longer have to worry that refarming will leave legacy users unserved.
It is important to note that allowing mobile operators to refarm spectrum doesn’t let them do anything they like within a band. For example, other spectrum users are still protected.
But, in the end, implementing technology neutrality in countries where it still isn’t allowed should be an easy decision. As a result, users benefit from better mobile broadband coverage, higher data speeds and lower mobile data prices than would otherwise be the case. The socio-economic benefits stemming from these improvements make it a win-win for governments and all mobile data subscribers; consumers as well as enterprises.