8 Companies to Bid Next Week for 3 DTH Licenses in Pakistan
8 Companies to Bid Next Week for 3 DTH Licenses in Pakistan
Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has shortlisted 8 companies for participation in the bidding for Direct to Home (DTH) Licensing scheduled to be held on December 07, 2015.
These 8 applicants companies for participation in the bidding for DTH Licensing include;
- 1M/s Sardar Builders (Pvt.) Limited.
- M/s Parus Media & Broadcast (Pvt.) Limited.
- M/s Mastro Media Distribution (Pvt.) Limited.
- M/s HB DTH (Pvt.) Limited.
- M/s IQ Communications (Pvt.) Limited.
- M/s Nayatel (Pvt.) Limited.
- M/s Shahzad CGG (Pvt.) Limited.
- M/s Sharif Feed Mills (Pvt.) Limited.
According to sources, 10 companies had submitted applications to participate in the bid but two were rejected. PEMRA has announced that it will be issuing 3 DTH (Direct-to-Home) Licenses to companies interested in establishing and operating DTH services and distribution in Pakistan
After the auction, licensees will be authorized to uplink their services from within Pakistan. Licensees will be under strict order to distribute channels that are authorised for viewership by PEMRA. Initially, DTH services will be limited to 20 in-house thematic channels per license and only one license per organization.
Licensees will be able to broadcast television and radio channels alongside value added services
License duration has been finalized to be 15 years on a nonexclusive basis as three licenses will be sold this year. Licensees will be able to broadcast television and radio channels alongside value added services which may include video on demand and many other features. Owner companies will also have the choice of launching internet services which are limited to browsing and streaming under the stated rules.
According to experts, DTH has a lot of market potential for investors and it is expected that the service will result in a lot of investment & employment opportunities fetching speedy return on investment. The availability of legal DTH in Pakistan will also help in curbing the proliferation of illegal DTH of neighboring countries in Pakistan which is causing loss of millions of rupees to the national exchequer annually. The launch of this service will be a step forward towards meeting the direction of International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for digitalization of broadcast media & distribution services.
According to experts, DTH has a lot of market potential with speedy return on investment and ample investment & employment opportunities
It may be recalled that an advertisement inviting applications for award of DTH Licenses was published in newspapers on 10th September, 2015 while uploading the Information Memorandum (IM) containing eligibility criteria, License Terms and condition, application forms etc. at PEMRA website www.pemra.gov.pk.
The last date for submission of applicants for DTH licenses was 6th November, 2015. Ten companies had submitted their applications / proposals till the closing date. The applications received were evaluated as per eligibility criteria given in the DTH Regualations-2015 and Information Memorandum uploaded at PEMRA website.
These (08) shortlisted companies have now been invited to participate in bidding process, scheduled to be held on 7th December, 2015, as per timeline approved by the Authority.
malikmuddser