The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued the final 5G spectrum licenses to MTN and Mafab Communications, winners of the 3.5GHz spectrum auction conducted by the Commission on Monday, December 13, 2021.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta confirmed this to the Board of Commissioners at the Board’s Special meeting of Wednesday, April 20 and Thursday, April 21, 2022, which considered updates from management on the status of the spectrum auction.
The licenses issuance are expected to accelerate the deployment of the 5G network that will usher Nigeria into a more robust Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) and a more digitised Nigerian economy, when the winners commence rolling out 5G services from August 24, 2022.
The NCC is optimistic that effective implementation of the National Policy on 5G will accelerate the actualisation of the national targets in the Nigerian National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025, the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, as well as other sectoral policies designed to enhance Nigeria’s digital transformation.
