5G Auction: NCC’s Role As Major Revenue Source For Government   

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is on another historic move for a second round of 3.5GHz spectrum auction for the deployment of fifth generation (5G) services to drive the digital economy vision of Nigeria and bolster the federal government’s revenue drive.

To make this happen, the Commission will this morning, 15th November, 2022 at 9.00am at the Marriot Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, hold an interactive session with telecommunications industry stakeholders on the final document for the auction of two more lots in the 3.5GHz Spectrum for the deployment of 5G services.

The regulator had in October announced the plan to licence additional two lots of 100MHz TDD in the 3.5 GHz spectrum band for the deployment of 5G technology with a starting price of $273.6 million. The auction would hold in December 2022.

Today’s engagement session will feature comments and submissions made by the different stakeholders on the Draft Information Memorandum (IM). The outcome of the submission will be taken into consideration by the NCC in publishing the final IM for the auction.

The Auction Process

The process for the auction of the proposed lots of frequencies for 5G services, commenced on 21 October 2022 with the publication of the Draft IM on the Commission’s website.

The final IM is slated for publication on 18th November 2022, while applications will be received by the Commission from 21st November 2022. The closing date for the submission of application, the deadline for payment of mandatory Intention-To-Bid Deposit (IBD), and the Pre-Qualification Stage is set for 5th December 2022.

Qualified bidders would be notified on 5th December 2022 while notification and publication of the Mock Auction and Auction date will occur on the same day. The Mock Action is billed for 16th December 2022 just as the Auction proper takes place three days later, on 19th December 2022.

The Commission would adopt the Ascending Clock Auction. The process is anticipated to enter its grant stage on 21st December 2022 with the publication of provisional bid winners and the notification of provisional award of licence.

The year 2023 will open with the payment for Spectrum Licence and Operational Licence, where applicable, on 20th January 2023 and on the 23rd of January 2023, the auction process will be concluded with the publication of the result of full payment by preferred winners.

Recall that last year, precisely on December 13, 2021, the Commission held the first transparent auction process for 5G in Africa wherein MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications Ltd emerged with winning Bid Price of $273,600,000 each for two lots of 100 MHz TDD each.