5G: NCC Convenes Stakeholder Forum for Auction in December

Tomiwo Ojo
NCC wants telecom companies exempted from excise duty amidst multiple taxation concerns

The Federal Government of Nigeria has taken another step in the quest to make 5G available in the country.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has concluded arraignments to host an engagement session with stakeholders to discuss and provide more insight into the Draft Information Memorandum that will guide the process.

In a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs of the NCC, Ruben Muoka, the Commission announced the plan to license additional lots in the 3.5 GHz spectrum band to deploy the 5G (fifth generation) Global System of Mobile communication).

The interactive session with the stakeholders will take place at the Marriot Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, by 9.00 am on the 15th of November 2022.

The engagement session will feature comments and submissions from the different stakeholders on the Draft Information Memorandum. The outcome of the submission will be taken into consideration by the Commission in publishing the Information Memorandum for the auction.

Related Post: NCC says it will auction 2 additional 5G licenses by December 2022

The process for the auction of the proposed lots of frequencies for Fifth Generation services commenced on the 21st of October 2022 with the publication of the Draft Information Memorandum on the Commission’s website.

In an earlier statement and subsequent advertisements, stakeholders have been advised by the Commission to study the Information Memorandum and make their comments and questions available to the Commission.

Related post: Despite 5G rollout, data shows that 70% of Africans only have access to 2G/3G networks

NCC 5G

What has been said by the NCC on 5G

The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) announced two weeks ago that it would auction 2 additional 3.5GHz Spectrum band licenses before the end of 2022 to boost the deployment of Fifth Generation services in Nigeria.

This happened after the process kickstarted on the 21st of this October, with the Draft Information Memorandum (IM) publication for the auction on the Commission’s website. The memo invited stakeholders to study the Memorandum to make submissions ahead of a review of the IM on the 16th of November 2022.

Recall that in May, the NCC issued letters of 5G license 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 Nigeria’s Fifth-Generation (5G) broadband network.

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 optimise the efficiency that comes with it.


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