NCC earmarks 5G licenses valued at $547.2m for auction
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is set to offer two additional slots in the 3.5 Gigahertz (GHz) spectrum band for the deployment of 5G network in the country.
It set the reserve price at $547.2 million, translating to $273.60 million for each licence.
This was disclosed in its Draft Information Memorandum, titled ‘Information Memorandum on 3.5 GHz Spectrum Auction’, which it published on its official website.
According to NCC, the offering includes the remaining lots of 2 x 100 megahertz (MHz) in the 3.5 GHz spectrum band to support 5G deployment in Nigeria.
Since NCC was awarded the 5G spectrum, MTN has launched its 5G network in selected locations while Mafab is yet to roll out its 5G network.
“The spectrum reserve price (RP) is the minimum price for one slot of 100MHz TDD for a 10-year licence tenure fixed at $273,600,000.00 or its equivalent in Naira at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rates at the time of the auction, according to the memorandum.
The regulatory commission said it had developed a draft information memorandum (IM) to support the attainment of this objective through an auction process.
“The commission will hold a Public Consultation in respect of the draft information memorandum (IM) on November 15, 2022.
“This is in line with the commission’s participatory rule-making process for the communications sector, to give stakeholders and interested parties an opportunity to review and comment on the draft IM before the final document is published,” the memorandum further said.
The commission added that applicants for the spectrum do not have to be licensed network operators in the country but will need a unified access service licence (UASL) if their bid is successful.
In February 2022, MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications Limited made their full payment of $273.6 million each for a 5G spectrum licence after emerging winners of the 3. 5 GHz spectrum auction.
Already MTN has rolled out the 5G mobile network but Mafab suspended roll-out till December and had gotten the approval of NCC for a five-month rollout extension, which ends on December 31, 2022.
