MTN Nigeria, Mafab Pay over Half a Billion Dollars to get 5G License after Eight hours Bidding War
- The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced MTN, Mafab communication as the winners for its 5G network.
- The auctioning of the 5th generation network, had three bidders, MTN, AIRTEL, and Mafab starting with the price of $197.4m to $199, 374m.
- Before the end of the 11 rounds, the three communication companies had raised their interest to over $500m
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has declared MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications winners of the two slots of the 3.5GHz spectrum auction for the Fifth Generation (5G) network licenses for a total fee of $546m or N226.6 billion at the N415/$ exchange rate.
The bids ended at $273 million for both MTN and Mafab communication in a live auction held at Hilton Transcorp Hotel, Abuja the Nation reports
The two winners were selected after nearly eight hours and 11 rounds of auctions which began at $199.37 million as against the reserve price of $197.4 million.
Source: Facebook
The bidding was in two stages; the main stage and the assignment stage and started at 12 noon on Monday, 13 December.
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The bidding rounds
The first round of the auction, which took off with the three bidders, started with the price of the spectrum $197.4m to $199, 374m which increased to $204,388, 256.10($204.3m) at the third phase.
For the fifth stage of the bidding, the price fell at $215, 782, 901.38 million and $224, 414, 217.43($224.4m) million at the sixth round per lot with all the three bidders in the race.
Round seven ended at $231, 146, 643.96($231.1m) while eight at $240, 392, 509.71 ($204.39m)
In Round nine the bidding ended at $251, 210,172.65($251.2m) and round ten at $263, 017, 050.77($263 million)
NCC reacts
The Executive-Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who announced the results, reiterated that the commission followed due process for the bidding.
Danbatta said that the winners were expected to pay on February 24, 2022, with the prevailing the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) exchange rate.
He said:
“Arising from the above, the Winning Bid Price for the Auction is USD$273,600,000 for each lot of 100 MHz TDD.
While congratulating the winners he thanks the government for its support and commitment to the deployment of 5G technology in Nigeria.
He said this would bring sustainable network improvements, higher connection speed, mobility, and capacity as well as low latency capacities to Communications services in Nigeria
“The Provisional Licence Winners are expected to pay the Winning Bid Price less the Intention-to-Bid Deposit, by February 24, 2022. We are happy to state that the Auction process was efficient, fair, well-organized and transparent, and was designed to deliver the ideal outcome.
“Accordingly, the strongest bidders have emerged provisional winners, raising a substantial amount for the Federal Government.Today’s auction represents a culmination of all the efforts at the international and national levels that have prepared Nigeria for this momentous leap forward.
“The auction is based on the powers bestowed on the Commission by Section 121 of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 as well as the Licensing Regulations 2019.”
Other countries with functioning 5G is South Africa and Kenya
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Elon Musk company, Starlink, is coming into Nigeria to compete in the country's telecommunications industry and it has met with authorities.
Starlink met with representatives of the Nigerian Communications Commission to discuss the details of operating in the country.
The American telco has thousands of satellites in space, and it is looking to make Africa's largest economy one of its markets.
Source: Legit.ng
