The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has put the reserve price for the auction of each of the two lots of 100MHz in the 3.5GHz band at approximately N75 billion ($197.4 million) for the deployment of 5G services.

This is contained in the draft Information Memorandum (IM) for 3.5GHz auction as presented by Director, Spectrum Administration (DSA) Department at NCC, Engineer Oluwatoyin Y. Asaju at a Stakeholders Engagement Forum which was held in Lagos yesterday.

As contained in the draft IM, an Initial Bid Deposit (IBD) equal to 10 percent of the reserve price is adopted in line with the previous auction.

The auction comes with a 10-year Spectrum License and a minimum requirement of an operational Unified Access Service License (UASL). Also, new entrants or licenses without a UASL will be required to additionally obtain a UASL Operational License as network operators would be required to meet all auction conditions.

The Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta affirmed that the Nigerian Communications market is one of the biggest in Africa and also the largest contributor to the Information and Communications Technology sector of the Nigerian economy.

Following the significant growth of broadband penetration in Nigeria, which stands at 40.01 percent as at September 2021, Danbatta stated that it has become imperative for Nigeria to evolve to the next phase of global development of the sector.

Some of the stakeholders at the forum expressed concerns over issues bothering on infrastructure, cost of data and making calls after deploying 5G, need for digital literacy to help reduce cybercrime among others.

Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo described 5G as the most recent and safest technology all over the world. “There is nothing to worry about 5G. We in the industry are a bit concerned about cost,” he said.

Source: Daily Trust