Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said provisional winners of the 3.5GHz spectrum licence, MTN Communications Nigeria Plc and Mafab Communications Limited, have made full payment of $273.6 million each for the 5G Spectrum licence to the commission.
Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, officially confirmed the payment yesterday, February 24, 2022, just as the deadline set for the two winners of the spectrum auction elapsed.
As part of the auction process emplaced by the commission in the Information Memorandum (IM), three companies, namely MTN Nigeria, Mafab Communications Ltd and Airtel Networks Ltd, submitted bids with an initial bid deposit (IBD) of $19.74 million, representing 10 per cent of the Reserve Price of the 3.5GHz Spectrum by close of the November 29, 2021 submission.
Following the successful auction on December 13, 2021, and the emergence of MTN and Mafab as winners, they were required to pay the balance of the bid amount of $253.86 million on or before February 24, 2022.
However, aside from the $273.6 million payment, MTN paid an additional $15.9 million, being the bidding sum is offered at the assignment state of the spectrum auction, making it clinch its preferred Lot 1 (3500-3600 Megahertz-MHz) in the 3.5Ghz spectrum, while Mafab Communications, which bided lower at the assignment stage, consequentially settled with Lot 2 (3700-3800Mhz) at no extra cost.
This was as members of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), yesterday, approved the fourth technology as part of ongoing standards development for 5G mobile services.
Known as “DECT 5G-SRIT”, the new technology supports a range of uses, from wireless telephony and audio streaming to the industrial Internet of Things (IoT) applications, particularly in smart cities.
It was added in the first revision to ITU’s key recommendation IMT-2020, which broadly encompasses fifth-generation, or 5G, networks, services, and devices. (The Guardian)
