Delays hang over Pakistan 3G lifeline

Pakistan's cash-strapped government has promised to sell 3G mobile telephone licences to raise revenue, match regional rivals and drive prosperity, but the process has been beset by delays.
Even Afghanistan, Pakistan's far less developed western neighbour with a weaker economy and more fragile state, has the technology.
But Pakistani consumers struggle to transfer data by phone, video streaming is often interrupted -- although technically YouTube is banned -- and video calls problematic.
Two months after the new government took office, there is little sign that the process will start soon.
Pakistan's state minister for information technology Anusha Rehman told AFP that the auction alone could take six to eight months.

"The base price for 3G licences is not set yet. Only once it is done will I be able to give a figure on how much revenue will be generated by the licences sale," she said.

But first the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) needs to be constituted and Rehman conceded there could be substantial delays.
"I am not sure how long it is going to take because the appointment of members have to be made by the cabinet," she said.
A senior civil servant initially told AFP that key appointments to the PTA were expected to be finalised in July. The first half of August in Pakistan is dominated by religious and national holidays.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, elected for a historic third term in May, faces the daunting challenge of bringing down an 8.8 pe rcent budget deficit, yet his first budget was conservative.
He offered no major tax reforms and within weeks, his government was forced to seek a USD 5.3 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund: enough only to keep on top of old loan repayments.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar sought to fend off some criticism about the lack of tax reform by saying that a 3G auction would fetch a "considerable amount of foreign exchange".
Cheap mobile phone telephony took Pakistan by storm in the early 2000s and according to the PTA there are more than 122 million mobile phone subscribers -- or 68.6 percent of the population.

PTA officials estimate that a 3G auction could raise $1 billion in annual licence fees, which could be ploughed back into reducing the crippling USD 5 billion circular debt in the energy sector.