The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is set to offer two more slots in the 3.5 Gigahertz (GHz) spectrum band for the deployment of 5G network in the country for a reserve value of $547.2 million, at the cost of $273.6 million each.
The Commission disclosed this in the Draft Information Memorandum (IM) (2.01 MB) for its upcoming auction published on its official website on Friday, signed by its Director, Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka.
In the Draft Information Memorandum, titled, “Information Memorandum on 3.5 GHz Spectrum Auction,” NCC said it is offering the remaining two lots to support the attainment of the 5G objective through an auction process.
The memorandum reads in part: “The spectrum reserve price (RP) is the minimum price for one slot of 100MHz TDD for a 10-year licence tenure fixed at $273,600,000.00 or its equivalent in Naira at the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) rates at the time of the auction, according to the memorandum.
“The Commission will hold a Public Consultation in respect of the draft information memorandum (IM) on November 15, 2022.
“This is in line with the Commission’s participatory rule-making process for the communications sector, to give stakeholders and interested parties an opportunity to review and comment on the draft IM before the final document is published.”
It added that applicants for the spectrum do not have to be licensed network operators in Nigeria but will need a unified access service licence (UASL) if their bid is successful.
It urged that all submissions on the Draft IM must reach the Commission on or before Wednesday, November 11, 2022 and should be addressed to the Executive Vice Chairman, through the Head, Spectrum Administration/Chairman SG Auction Committee, NCC.
The Public Consultation is in line with the Commission’s participatory rule-making process for the communications sector, to give stakeholders and interested parties an opportunity to review and comment on the draft IM before the final document is published.
