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The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC is set to auction the 3.5GHz spectrum on December 13 after which it will hand licence to successful bidders to deliver 5G in Nigeria in 2022.
The commission had announced on December 1 after it closed the bidding session that three companies – MTN, Airtel and MAFAB – were successful in bidding.
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These telcos, it said have met the submission deadline. Also, they made the 10% fee payment of $20 million as stated in its Information Memorandum (IM).
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The said 5G spectrum auction IM was first exposed in October as a draft on the NCC website. It was also accompanied by a public notice in major media channels, including print, electronic and broadcast media.
After meeting with stakeholders in Lagos, the commission further released the final IM on November 10 along with stakeholders’ comments.
Prior to that, the FG gave approval to the NCC 5G deployment plan as it also declared that successful bidders will get the proper licence to deliver it in 2022.
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The NCC gave room to both licensed and unlicensed applicants in Nigeria to apply for the forthcoming 5G auction.
More so, it will issue an operating licence to new entrants who are successful in line with the extant provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003 and its licensing regulations.
Two among the qualified telcos are existing companies.
MAFAB communications – 5G Nigeria
MAFAB communications is a relatively new player in the telcos’ space and well unknown to the majority since it got licenced in 2020.
Its qualification for the 5G auction was dependent on meeting the NCC IM requirements.
