Nigeria To Rake In N500bn In 2023 From Auctioning 5G Spectrums

The Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) has said that it has a projection of generating over N500 billion for the Federal Government in the 2023 fiscal year through the auctioning of 5G spectrum.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof Umar Danbatta, made the disclosure at an interactive meeting on 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper (MTEF-FSP), organised by the Senate Committee on Finance on Monday.

He said the projected revenue would be realised from the auctioning of two 5G spectrums, saying that the bidding process for auctioning of the spectrums for 2023 had begun.

He also disclosed that NCC generated N257 billion in the first quarter of 2022, while N195 billion of the sum was remitted to government coffers.

Danbatta further said from April to August this year, N318 billion was generated, while N214 was remitted.

According to him, the revenue realised was occasioned by the auctioning of two 5G spectrums at the rates of $263 million and $273 million respectively.

He said NCC from 2017 to 2021 had also generated N799 billion and remmited 423 billion to the government purse.

On broadband penetration in Nigeria, he said it stood at 44 per cent, saying that about 150 million Nigerians have access to the Internet, with over 80 million having access to high speed internet.

According to him, the target was to hit 75 per cent penetration in 2025, adding that the Commission was hopeful of achieving 50 per cent penetration by the end of 2022.

He advised Nigerians to make use of the 112 emergency national number to report issues of emergency like fire outbreak, accidents, among others, and toll-free number 622 to lodge complaints on issues relating to drop calls.

The chairman of the Senate Committee, Senator Solomon Adeola, said the Senate would continue to encourage NCC to improve its revenue generation profile to the Federal Government.