The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has confirmed that MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications Limited have made their full payment of $273.6 million each for the fifth generation, 5G, spectrum licence.
MTN and Mafab had emerged in December 2021, after 11 rounds of bidding that lasted for eight hours, as the two successful winners of the 3.5gigahertz, GHz, spectrum auction for the deployment of 5G technology in Nigeria.
The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer if the NCC, Umar Danbatta, officially confirmed the payment status on Thursday, just as the deadline set for the two winners of the spectrum auction elapsed.
A statement issued by the Director of Public Affairs, NCC, Ikechukwu Adinde, quoted Danbatta as saying, “I wish to officially announce that the NCC has received and confirmed payments from MTN and Mafab for their acquisition of 1 slot of 100Mhz each in the 3.5Ghz spectrum auction, which was successfully conducted by the commission on December 13, 2021.
“They both met the deadline of February 24, 2022, as set by the Commission.
“Arising from this and on behalf of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, the Board and Management of the NCC, I wish to congratulate the MTN and Mafab for this feat, as we look forward to accomplishing other deployment timelines in the 5G deployment roadmap, as articulated in the National Policy on 5G Networks for Nigeria’s Digital Economy.”
The NCC boss explained that aside from the $273.6 million payment, MTN paid an extra $15.9 million for the preferred Lot 1 (3500-3600 Megahertz-MHz) in the 3.5Ghz spectrum, while Mafab Communications settled with Lot 2 (3700-3800Mhz) at no extra cost.
Danbatta commended the two companies for meeting the payment deadline and their commitment.
He averred that this was a demonstration of sound regulatory environment in the Nigerian telecommunications sector.
