MTN Nigeria Pays Balance of $273.6m to Govt. for 5G License
MTN Nigeria has paid the balance of $273.6m to the federal . for 5G license . According to information on the Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) website, MTN Nigeria has paid the remaining US$273.6 million 5G license fee to the federal government before the February 24 deadline.
MTN and Mafab Communications were allocated slots for the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) Fifth Generation (5G) technology spectrum after emerging auction winners held by NCC in 2021.
MTN and Mafab Communications were listed on the NCC’s website among those who had paid their full license fees and collected license documents for their respective telecommunications undertakings prior to the era of reclassification of licenses into Class and Individual licenses.
MTN was the highest bidder at the auction, followed by Mafab Communications Limited. During the bidding process, Mafab added US$11,120,000 million, while MTN Nigeria added US$15,900,000.
According to the NCC website, MTN’s license is in the individual category.
An Individual Licence is a type of authorisation in which the terms, obligations and conditions are specific to the service being provided, as well as scope and limitations.
The licensing process can take the form of an auction, ‘First Come, First Served”, “Beauty Contest”, or a conventional administrative procedure, among other things.
The Nigerian Communications Commission held the 5G auction on November 13, 2021, in collaboration with the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy.
Minister of communication and digital economy Isa Pantami had said that the 5G network would aid the country’s economic development by providing digital technology to benefit its finance and other sectors.