MTN pays for NCC’s 5G license ahead February 24 deadline

MTN Nigeria has paid the 5G license fee ahead of the February 24 deadline issued by the Federal Government of Nigeria.

This was announced on the website of the Nigerian Communications Commission, dated February 4. As stated on the website, MTN and Mafab Communications were listed among those who had paid their licence fees in full and had collected licence documents for the respective telecommunications undertaking before the era of reclassification of Licences into Class and Individual licences.

Recall MTN and Mafab Communications were awarded slots for the 3.5 gigahertz (Ghz) Fifth Generation (5G) technology spectrum after emerging winners of the auction held by NCC.

MTN was the highest bidder at the auction followed by Mafab communications limited. While Mafab added $11,120,000 million while bidding, MTN Nigeria added $15,900,000.

As stated on the NCC website, the licence secured by MTN is in the individual category. An Individual Licence is a type of authorization in which the terms, conditions and obligations, scope and limitations are specific to the service being provided. Process of licensing can take the form of Auction, “First Come First Served”, “Beauty Contest” or a standard administrative procedure, etc

The 5G auction was organised on November 13, 2021 by NCC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.

Isa Pantami, Nigerian Minister for communication and Digital Economy had said the 5G network will help promote economic development in Nigeria as digital technology will aid the finance and other sectors in the country.

At the assignment stage, two slots of 100MHzTDD available at 3.5GHz band were for bidding to support the delivery of broadband services for the deployment of 5G in Nigeria.

The bidders which were Mobile Telephone Network (MTN), Airtel Nigeria and Mafab Communications ended at the Main stage, dropping down to two bidders of which Mafab and MTN emerged winners.