The Executive Vice-Chairman of Nigerian
Communications Communication (NCC), Mr. Eugene Juwah, on Wednesday said the
auction of the 2.6GHz Spectrum License to prospective applicants will hold on
May 4, while April 21 remains the deadline for submission of forms and
applications.
At the end of the auction, each wining licensee
will be issued a national spectrum licence for 10 years, while also qualifying
for a unified access service licence, he said.
According to him, government is expected to reap
$224 million from the deal, adding that the reserved price is pegged at $16
million for a lot of 2x5. MHz. The 2.6GHz licencing round, he acknowledged is
part of government’s strategic plan to achieve 30 per cent broadband
penetration by December 2017.
Addressing journalists in Abuja at the resumption
of the licencing round for the 2.6GHz spectrum band in Abuja, the Juwah who was
represented by the Director Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, advised interested
parties to look up the Information Memorandum (IM) on its website and be
accordingly guided.
He said the 2.6GHz spectrum has been influenced
by the need to open up the space for the delivery of present and future
generations of broadband services to subscribers in consonance with the
Nigerian National Broadband Plan of 2013 to 2018.
On why no prospective bidder has approached the
commission for application, he said: “The thing just started and usually we
don’t expect applicants to just come and apply.
“NCC expects that interested applicants would
have thoroughly studied and evaluated the entire process as stated on the
forms. Even though applications started on Monday, we did not expect
anybody to have applied between Monday and now.”
“The Spectrum will be offered on technology
neutral basis but for rollout basis, the NCC will follow the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) recommendation, setting aside spectrum in the
2.6GHz band for the provision of advanced wireless broadband services.
The executive vice-chairman stated that
applicants need not hold any telecommunications’ operational licence before
bidding for any of the lots. He however said licenced operators participating
in the process must fulfill all existing obligations to the commission
including payments of the annual operating levy spectrum and national numbering
plan fees prior to prequalification.
Juwah said NCC opted for the auction exercise for
most of its spectrum sales because it is an efficient way to assign scarce
spectrum resources. He said: “It offers better approach to manage competition
while ensuring a fair and transparent allocation process.”
According to him, allocation to those most likely
to deploy resources valuably and to meet the market circumstances, adding that
NCC is determined to put in place measures to improve broadband penetration in
Nigeria.
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