The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has announced that it will auction 2 additional 3.5GHz Spectrum band licences before the end of 2022, to boost the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) services in Nigeria today.
This is coming after the process kickstarted on the 21st of this month, with the publication of the Draft Information Memorandum (IM) for the auction on the Commission’s website. The memo invited stakeholders to study the Memorandum for purposes of making submissions ahead of a review of the IM on 16th November 2022.
The final IM is slated for publication on 18th December 2022, while applications will be received by the Commission from 21st November 2022.
The closing date for the submission of the application, the deadline for payment of mandatory Intention-To-Bid Deposit (IBD), and the Pre-Qualification Stage is set for 5th December 2022.
After which, qualified bidders would be notified on the 5th of December 2022 while notification and publication of the Mock Auction and Auction date will occur on the same day. The Mock Action is billed for 16th December 2022 just as the Auction proper takes place three days later, on 19th December 2022.
The process is anticipated to enter its grant stage on 21st December 2022 with the publication of provisional bid winners and the notification of the provisional award of the licence.
More on the 5G licence auction
According to the release, the payment for Spectrum licence and Operational Licence would open in 2023, where applicable, on 20th January 2023 and on the 23rd of January 2023, the auction process will be concluded with the publication of the result.
Meanwhile, according to the Information Memorandum, the Commission reserves the right to make available additional information through the publication of further documentation. Therefore, interested parties are advised to stay abreast with developments in the licensing process by checking regularly for updates on the Commission’s website.
Recall that in May, the NCC issued letters of 5G licence awards to MTN and Mafab Communications, after the companies won the 3.5GHz spectrum auction conducted by the Commission in December last year.
Since then, the regulators have outlined plans to successfully deploy the Fifth-Generation (5G) broadband network in Nigeria.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami called for collaboration between major stakeholders including policymakers, national regulatory agencies and network operators to effectively optimise the efficiency that comes with 5G.
In his speech, Pantami called on Nigerians to support and accept the new technology, as all industry stakeholders must ensure the provision of robust government policies, excellent regulatory and operational efficiency, as well as optimum network performance.
Related story: FG outlines roadmap to successful 5G deployment
With the latest development, other network service providers like Airtel, Globacom, or perhaps, companies would be looking to bid and add the 5G spectrum to their service delivery next year.
Hopefully, this will contributes to the Nation’s drive to successfully implement and transition into a fully 5G operation broadband.
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