News was in from the beginning of the year that by the end of 2008 PTA will auction licenses for 3G. With the year coming to the end, we have not seen this happen. But now with a two-day workshop on 3G (UMTS/WCDMA) Network Planning, it looks like PTA has laid the foundation for licensing the 3G spectrum early next year.

The workshop was held in association with Qualcomm Inc, USA and Central Asian CDMA Forum at PTA headquarters, Islamabad from 4-5 December 2008.

PTA has assured the telecom industry for its full support and cooperation for the introduction of new technology and to provide level playing field to all the stake holders. On the occasion of closing ceremony, Chairman PTA Dr. Mohammed Yaseen distributed the certificates to the participants of the workshop.

The workshop was conducted by telecom experts and Qualcomm certified trainers Mr. Syed Umair & Mr. Muhammad Arif Khan. The training session covered various areas of 3G WCDMA/UMTS wireless technology including Network consideration, Coverage, Uplink and Down Link Budgets, Propagation, Traffic and Capacity, HSDPA and HSUPA considerations, Network Dimensioning and Tool overview.

Representatives of Mobile phone operators, telecom companies and vendors attended the workshop on 3G.

It may be noted over here that MTNL (Indian Operator) has already launched 3G in few areas of New Delhi and is expanding it steadily to country-wide level. Bangladesh also plans to roll-out 3G services in the coming year.

The Writer, Arsalan Tariq Mir, is a Telecom enthusiast and an undergraduate student in Telecom Engineering based in Karachi. He can be reached at arsal_mir [at] yahoo.com