…Nigeria first country in Africa to successfully conduct a full 5G spectrum auction without consultant
By Dwelleth Morountodun
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed issuance of the final letters of award of the Fifth Generation (5G) Spectrum Licences to MTN and Mafab Communications, winners of the 3.5GHz spectrum auction conducted by the Commission in December.
Management of the Commission led by its Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) Prof. Umar Danbatta confirmed this to the Board of Commissioners at the Board’s Special Meeting, which took place on April 20 and 21 where the Board considered updates from Management on the status of the spectrum auction.
With the issuance of the final letters of awards of 5G spectrum and in line with the Auction’s Information Memorandum (IM), the two licensees are now expected to accelerate deployment of 5G network that will usher Nigeria into a more robust Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and a more digitised Nigerian economy.
In line with the terms and conditions of the 5G license, the licensees are expected to commence roll out 5G services effective from August 24, 2022.
The 5G network, when deployed, will bring a lot of benefits and opportunities that will engender accelerated growth and smart living in the country. The technology is also expected to bring substantial network improvements, including higher connection speed, mobility and capacity, as well as low-latency capabilities.
Following a transparent, diligent, fair and credible auction of 3.5GHz on December 13, 2021, the National Frequency Managenent Council (NFMC), chaired by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Ibrahim Pantami, had on February 22, 2022, officially handed over the spectrum allocation for 5G deployment as well as Federal Government-approved National Policy on 5G to the Commission.
Subsequently, the Commission, on February 24, 2022, confirmed the full payment of $273.6 million each by the two spectrum winners, in addition to spectrum assignment fee paid by MTN, for the 5G spectrum licence.
The Commission is optimistic that effective implementation of the National Policy on 5G will accelerate the actualisation of the national targets in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, as well as other sectoral policies designed to enhance Nigeria’s digital transformation.
While the licensees are expected to meet the timetable regarding their 5G network rollout obligations, the NCC requires collective efforts and support of the private-sector and government toward transforming every aspect of the nation’s economy through 5G, which will herald greater transformation than what the nation witnessed with the 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G.
Meanwhile, the Commission during a training programme conducted for ICT Journalists on Thursday at its Headquarters in Abuja, expressed hope that 5G services will be available by the 4th quarter of the year.
The Head, Spectrum Administration, NCC, Usman Aliyu, said cleaning of the Bands is ongoing with the migration of the FSS users from 3.4-3.8 GHz spectrum following the ratification of the use of Nigerian Communications Satellite by the National Frequency Management Council.
When deployed, he acknowledged that a lot of services would be enhanced with resultant effect on the economic growth of the nation in the areas of education, health, financial services and improvement on the quality of service.
Aliyu said Nigeria became the first country in Africa to successfully conduct a full 5G spectrum auction without the services of a consultant and first software auction to be conducted since 2001.
‘‘5G auction committee was constituted, Information memorandum was developed, consultation on Memorandum carried out, key stakeholders responded, corrections were made on IM before auction.”
