Despite several roadblocks, the government aims to raise roughly $1.2 billion from the 3G and 4G Spectrum Auction for Next Generation Mobile Services (NGMS), that is set to take place later today.

The auction process will start at 8 am PST and bidders will be allowed to log into the auction system, the first round of bidding will start at 10 AM. There will be multiple rounds of bidding and the duration of each round will be at least 45 minutes or more.

Results will be announced after each Round at PTA website.

PTA has chosen the Simultanrous Multiple Round Ascending (SMRA) auction mechinism to conduct the auction, which uses an electronic system allowing the bidders to participate intelligently and efficiantly in the auction.

SMRA is the commonly sought after auctioning mechanism and is preferred over the traditional open cry out auctioning model as SMRA allows both auctioneer, and bidder, the flexibility to simultaneously bid on lots of their choice, privacy and time to make educated decisions during the auction.

The four telecom providers, Zong, Ufone, Mobilink and Telenor, will be bidding for Three 10 MHz 3G licences, and two 10 MHz 4G licences later today. There will be no bidding for the unused licence of the now-defunct Instaphone even though it may be offered for bidding at a later stage according to Finance Minister Ishaq Dar.