By Emmanuel Nduka
The Nigerian Government on Monday raked in N227bn, as MTN and Mafab Communications Limited on Monday won the bid for the 5G spectrum auction.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) conducted the auction at the in Abuja for the available two slots for the 3.5 GHz spectrum.
MTN Nigeria, Mafab Communications Ltd and Airtel Networks Ltd participated in the bid using the Ascending Clock Auction System.
Each of the firm on Monday went through a bidding room after participating in an opening round. The commission fixed the base price at $197.4 million.
Spokesperson of the NCC, Ikechukwu Adinde, said the two winners got the nod of the regulator at $273 million.
The reserve price per lot was initially set at $197,400,00 but was raised repeatedly by the auction manager, reaching $275,904,886.25 at round 11 with Airtel dropping off.
The bidding process then moved to the assignment stage.
At the assignment stage, MTN offered $15,900,000 and was assigned lot one, while Mafab offered $11,120,000 and awarded slot two at no extra cost.
Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, said Nigeria is hoping to have the widest 5G in Africa in 2022.
He assured that 5G technology can solve some of the security challenges in the country, since the technology provides real time services and platforms.
MTN is a telco giant in Nigeria, while Mafab Communications Ltd. was incorporated in 2020 and licensed to provide and operate local interconnect and international carrier services.
