MTN Communications Nigeria Plc and Mafab Communications Limited, the provisional winners of the 3.5 Gigahertz (GHz) spectrum license, have paid the Nigerian Communications Commission a total of $273.6 million for the 5G Spectrum license.
Umar Danbatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), confirmed the payment on Thursday, just as the deadline for the two winners of the spectrum auction passed.
MTN Nigeria, Mafab Communications Ltd, and Airtel Networks Ltd submitted bids with an initial bid deposit of $19.74 million, representing 10% of the reserve price by the bid submission deadline of November 29, 2021.
Following the successful auction on December 13, 2021, and the selection of MTN and Mafab as winners, they were required to pay the remaining bid amount of $253.86 million on or before February 24, 2022.
Aside from the $273.6 million payment, MTN paid an additional $15.9 million, which was the bidding sum it offered at the assignment stage of the spectrum auction, allowing it to secure its preferred Lot 1 (3500-3600 Megahertz-MHz) in the 3.5Ghz spectrum; whereas, Mafab Communications, which bid lower at the assignment stage, settled with Lot 2 (3700-3800Mhz) at no extra cost.
“I wish to officially announce that 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,” Mr Danbatta said, confirming the payments by the two licensees. They both met the Commission’s deadline of February 24, 2022.”
“As a result of this, and on behalf of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, the Board of Directors, and the Management of the NCC, I would like to congratulate MTN and Mafab on this accomplishment, as we look forward to meeting other deployment timelines in the 5G deployment roadmap, as articulated in the National Policy on 5G Networks for Nigeria’s Digital Economy.”
Mr Danbatta commended the two companies for meeting the payment deadline and for their commitment to the 5G deployment drive through private investments, which he said demonstrated the licensees’ belief in the Nigerian telecommunications sector’s sound regulatory environment.
He also thanked the Federal Government for its support and commitment to the deployment of 5G technology in Nigeria, which he said will bring significant network improvements such as higher connection speed, mobility, and capacity, as well as low-latency capabilities to Nigerian communications services.
