Insights from the Pakistan 2026 Multi-Band Spectrum Auction
Pakistan’s 2026 spectrum auction released unprecedented volumes of spectrum. This Insight provides an insider perspective on the multi-band award, drawing on Coleago’s direct involvement in supporting a successful bidder, and explores the auction design, bidding dynamics and key lessons for regulators.
The auction marked a pivotal moment for Pakistan’s telecoms market, releasing a transformational 597 MHz of spectrum across multiple bands, including 700, 1800, 2100, 2300, 2600 and 3500 MHz. The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) is to be commended for making a broad range of spectrum available simultaneously, enabling bidders to switch demand across substitute bands and avoiding artificial scarcity. This approach supported a more efficient allocation process and helped ensure that operators could acquire spectrum portfolios aligned with their long-term network strategies.
Balanced approach to pricing and obligations
A key strength of the award process was the PTA’s pragmatic approach to reserve pricing, setting most bands at a discount to international benchmarks to reflect demanding coverage and quality of service obligations. This helped ensure strong participation and ultimately led to the successful assignment of a significant proportion of the available spectrum.
However, a lack of consistency in pricing across bands meant that 1800 MHz and 2100 MHz spectrum remained unsold, demonstrating the importance of aligning reserve prices with market value and regulatory objectives.
The auction also introduced ambitious, phased coverage and QoS obligations extending to 2035, supporting Pakistan’s digital agenda. While coverage targets were manageable, the QoS requirements – particularly around median speeds – introduced uncertainty and increased the burden on operators.
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Auction design and strategic complexity
The PTA adopted an Ascending Clock Auction format, enhanced by a “no excess supply” rule designed to ensure that a minimum quantity of spectrum was sold. While this feature reduced the risk of unsold lots and discouraged certain strategic behaviours, it also introduced significant substitution and exposure risks for bidders.
In particular, bidders risked being left with sub-optimal or uneconomic spectrum holdings if their attempts to adjust demand across bands were only partially accepted. The design also increased the complexity of bidding strategies, requiring careful management of trade-offs between different spectrum bands and quantities.
Bidding dynamics and outcomes
The auction progressed rapidly, concluding after just three rounds of bidding, reflecting both the transparency of the process and the ability of bidders to quickly converge on a mutually acceptable allocation. As illustrated by the auction results, operators actively adjusted their demand across bands in response to evolving price signals, with shifts between 2600 MHz, 2300 MHz and 3500 MHz playing a key role in the final outcome.
Ultimately, all three operators secured substantial and strategically valuable spectrum holdings, supporting future investment while maintaining industry financial stability.
Key takeaways
The Pakistan auction stands out as a successful and well-balanced spectrum award, delivering both strong policy outcomes and commercially viable results for operators. Key lessons for regulators include:
- The benefits of making sufficient spectrum available simultaneously to support efficient allocation
- The importance of aligning reserve prices with market conditions and policy objectives
- The need to carefully assess auction design features that may introduce unintended risks
- The value of resolving regulatory uncertainties prior to the auction to support confident bidding
While the auction design introduced complexities and risks, these did not materialise in practice, and the overall outcome represents a positive example of spectrum award execution in a developing market.
How Coleago supports spectrum strategy
Coleago has over 25 years of experience advising regulators and operators on spectrum valuation, auction design and bidding strategy. Our insider perspective ensures that spectrum awards are both economically efficient and aligned with real-world operator constraints, supporting successful outcomes for all stakeholders.
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