Islamabad: The federal cabinet has granted approval to Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to issue a framework for temporary testing, trial and development licenses/authorizations for all future technologies particularly 5G mobile technologies, it was learn’t reliably.
Available copy of policy directive for test and development of future technologies particularly for fifth generation (5G) wireless networks in Pakistan disclosed to Pakistan Today that the federal cabinet, using powers conferred by the Section 8(2) of the Pakistan Telecommunication (Re-organization) Act 1996 (Amended 2006), has approves the issuance of policy directives for compliance of PTA.
As per federal cabinet’s directives, PTA will issue a framework for temporary test and development licenses/authorizations as appropriate for all future technologies particularly 5G mobile technologies. Similarly, the PTA will identify /set aside appropriate bandwidth in the frequency spectrum blocks currently under consideration for 5G standardization purposes whenever available in Pakistan. These could inter-alia include the requisite spectrum blocks/channels in 2.6 GHz, 3.6 GHz and other relevant bands amenable to millimeters wave propagation. Testing entities will be allowed access to such frequency blocks for testing purposes only, said document.
The framework for test and development licenses shall include criteria for the provision of the test licenses conditions, durations and other terms and conditions or reissuing the test licenses on expiry. Similarly, PTA will consult stakeholders on the framework and then finalize the test and development framework within three months to enable eligible organization to acquire such licenses. Likewise, PTA will consider the types of organizations including telecommunication, operators, equipment manufacturers, and research & development organizations in order to encourage the highest level of technologies and application innovation in Pakistan.
The industry and other eligible organizations will be able to test and develop new services by the assignment of spectrum with specific conditions of use for research, development, testing and demonstration activities, and that such licenses/authorizations will be made available within three months of application.
Documents further reveal that PTA will forward the applications to FAB (frequency Allocation Board) for allocation of suitable frequency band for any such request as per procedure in vogue. More, to oversee implementation under the test licensing/authorizations framework, PTA will form a multilateral working group comprising members of Ministry of Information Technology, PTA, FAB and industry. The working group will engage other stakeholders regarding harmonious testing and trial of technologies including 5G and will also recommend future technology/standards development as well as other technical and logistical requirements for the trials.
Developments ensuing from such technology test and trails will be regularly published in annual report of the Authority.
Officials at ministry of Information Technology and Telecom said that the Next Generation Mobile Services (3G/4G) has continuously gotten momentum in Pakistan since their launch in mid-2014. They said this was made possible through consistent policy initiatives adopted over the past four years by the government (MoITT) ensuing availability of requisite frequency spectrum supply to the mobile broadband market. Because of the auctions conducted by the Authority under the directives of MoITT, issuance of respective licenses and launch of 3G/4G mobile broadband services the demand for data services is growing along with the subscriber base which has crossed 44 million in just three years.
The officials further said that to stay at forefront of the technology and to enable state of the art service to Pakistani consumers, Telecom Policy 2015 has provided measures not only for early commercial adoption of technology but also to provide conducive test and development environment for upcoming and future technologies. They said it is, therefore, imperative that we remain proactive in ensuring market readiness for the next wave of mobile communications i-e 5G. The 5G is expected to enable new ground-breaking data rates and limits and will considerably enhance the experience of services/applications that are available today, officials said.
It is pertinent to mention that research and development on 5G radio interface standards has been in full swing over the past half-decade at multilateral standardization for a ITU-R has recently published the key requirements related to the minimum technical performance of IMT-2020 (or 5G) candidate radio interface technologies. Similarly, another key standard development organization e-g 3GPP in close collaboration with industry and academia is developing the specification for 5G which is scheduled to be released to ITU-R by the 2019 deadline. Based on still evolving standards, many trials and tests are well underway around the globe on pre-standards 5G. South Korea is expected to have a pre-standard 5G system up and running for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Last month, China completed its plans to conduct 5G field test in Beijing.
