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PTA to sue Reuters for 'fabricated' report on 3G auction(National Herald Tribune (Pakistan) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Pakistan's top telecommunication authority has decided to take legal action against foreign news agency Reuters for trying to "sabotage" the much-awaited auction of next-generation cell phone spectrum licences.Pakistan is set to hold auctions for 3G and 4G network licences on April 23, a step that the finance minister says will raise at least $1.3 billion. The bid submission process for the auction was carried out last week to which response received from four existing cellular mobile operators of Pakistan was "very encouraging and satisfactory for the PTA," according to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority.However, news agency Reuters claimed there was scant interest in the auction, and that Pakistan would not be able to raise no more than $850 million. Also read: 3G and 4G auction to yield $1.3bn, says finance minister. The Reuters report had quoted unnamed officials as saying that the bids were "so embarrassingly off target" that Finance Minister Ishaq Dar wanted to call off the auction. "This was a completely baseless and fabricated story, and came out at when we were ready to go into the auction in an effort to damage the process," PTA spokesman Khurram Mehran told Dawn.com. Mehran said the telecom authority had forwarded the matter to its legal counsel, which advised them to initiate legal proceedings against the news agency. "We have prepared our legal notice and it will be served to Reuters as soon as we complete the auction process on Wednesday," he said. Reuters was unavailable for comment. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ] |