The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced the adoption and publication of the final version of the Information Memorandum (IM) to guide the upcoming auction of the remaining lots of the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) Spectrum for the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) services in Nigeria.
By the provisions of the IM, the NCC has placed the Application Start Date as Monday, November 21, 2022, with December 05, 2022 as the end date for submission of application, and end date for payment of mandatory Intention-To-Bid Deposit (IBD), heralding the end of the Pre-Qualification Stage and notification of qualified bidders on December 09, 2022.
Earlier, the Commission had published a daft IM and requested stakeholders to make comments and inputs into the document to enrich its contents.
Subsequently, stakeholders’ comments were collated and discussed at a Stakeholder’s Engagement forum hosted by the Commission on November 15, 2022 in Lagos, on the same subject.
Announcing the publication on its website, the NCC noted: “Following public consultations and stakeholder engagement, the Nigerian Communications Commission in the exercise of its functions under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 (the Act) has published the Information Memorandum (IM) (Final Version) for its upcoming auction of the remaining lots of 2 x 100MHz in the 3.5GHz spectrum band to support 5G deployment in Nigeria.”
In a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs at the Commission, Mr. Reuben Muoka, all comments by stakeholders have been considered and a final Information Memorandum to guide the upcoming auction is now available on the Commission’s website (www.ncc.gov.ng) with the link: https://www.ncc.gov.ng/media-centre/public-notices/1297-public-notice-final-im-3-5ghz-spectrum-band-2022.
The Commission requests all stakeholders to check public notices in the dailies and visit the website to study and review the final IM.
Going by the IM, a mock auction will take place on December 16, while the main auction will be held on December 19, 2022.
After the auction, publication of provisional winners and notification of provisional award of licence will be done on December 21, 2022, thereafter, winners will have a 30-day period for payment for Spectrum Licence and Operational Licence (where applicable) by January 20, 2023.
Final result of successful winners will be published on January 23, 2023.
