The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has declared that the auction of the 3.5 Gigahertz (3.5 GHz) spectrums for the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) technology in Nigeria will take place on December 13, 2021.
According to the 5G Information Memorandum (IM), the mock auction has been slated for December 10, 2021 as a precursor to the actual auction on December 13, 2021.
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The IM states that only licensees who make down payment of 10 per cent of the $197.4 million (N75 billion) reserved bid price and with 100 per cent regulatory compliance and those with outstanding debts that have secured NCC’s approval for a payment plan would be allowed to participate in the auction.
According to the IM, the auction comes with a 10-year spectrum licence and a minimum requirement of an operational Universal Access Service Licence (UASL).
However, new entrants or licensees without a UASL will be required to obtain a UASL operational license to be qualified for the 5G licence.
The eventual licensees will have a rollout obligation plan spanning a period of 10 years, beginning from the date of award of the licence. Between the first and second year of the licence, the operators are expected to rollout service in at least, one state in each geo-political zone.
From the third to fifth year, they are obligated to cover all the zones. Between six and 10 years they should cover all the states in the country, according to guidelines set out in the IM.
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