ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to hire a consultant to expedite the auction process of 3G license, Prime Minister House said Friday.

A meeting chaired by Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf asked the Ministry of Information Technology to immediately advertise for a consultant to speed up the mechanism which was facing delays due to ‘unnecessary official procedures.’

The meeting directed Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to seek a list of experts from Ministry of Information Technology to evaluate Expression of Interest (EOI) from the consultant.

The PTA's member Technical said after receiving list from the ministry, it would accord approval as per the provision of section 5(2)(R) of Pakistan Telecommunication Re-Organization Act 1996.

The meeting reiterated the PTA's role in carrying out the auction of 3G license in a transparent manner.

Earlier, the prime minister was briefed by the officials of IT ministry on the subject.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Advisor on Petroleum Dr Asim Hussain, Secretaries for Information Technology, Finance, Law and Justice and other government officials.