[Nigeria Guardian] THREE years after it initiated the licensing of telecommunications services on the 2.3 Gigerhertz (Hz) spectrum, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has cleared four firms to operate on that transmission level.
The companies, which scaled the hurdle by paying the licensing fees before the expiration of the deadline last Friday, are Mobitel Limited, Spectranet Limited and Galaxy Wireless. The identity of the fourth company, which NCC officials confirmed at the weekend as meeting the deadline, could not be ascertained at the time of filing this report.
The 2.3 GHZ spectrum is commonly used to deploy Internet services via Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX), which is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless transmission of data.
Besides WiMAX and data transmission, the 2.3GHz is ideal for wireless telephony for voice transmission.
Industry players at the weekend hailed the return of Mobitel to the sector, after it went under, following the death of its promoter, Charles Alaba Joseph, in questionable circumstances.
The companies each paid N1.368 billion to beat the NCC deadline, bringing the amount paid by Mobitel and two others to N4.104 billion. The proceeds accruing to NCC from the deal is N5.472 billion.
The NCC put up the licences for sale to beef up service provision in the sector. A total of 41 companies expressed interest in the licensing round, which started in November 2006. Only four licences for the spectrum were up for grab and the NCC rules state that the first four companies to pay the fees by the deadline are the winners.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) officials, who sought anonymity, confirmed to The Guardian that Mobitel, Spectranet and Galaxy Wireless had met the financial terms for the licences. The fourth one was not disclosed but officials said they were sure that "a fourth licencee may also have paid the N1.3 billion to NCC nominated accounts in some Nigerian banks."
A unique aspect of the exercise was that speculators were asked to stay clear and winners who fail to meet the roll-out obligation automatically forfeit their licences and fees.
An official statement by the NCC on the transaction is expected today after all payments have been confirmed by the commission.
This brings to an end yet another successful auction by the commission.
According to the NCC rules, the auction would be on the basis of first-to-pay, designed to ensure that only companies with adequate funding capacity get the licences.
By the provisions of Communications 2003 Act, all funds realised from spectrum licensing are to be paid into the Federation Account.
The expiration of the deadline also forecloses speculations that some notable politicians were being favoured to grab the licences.
Pursuant to its objective of providing enabling environment for delivery of service to the Nigerian populace, the NCC placed an offer for licensing four slots of 20 MHz each in the 2.3 GHz frequency band. Applications were received from 41 companies from 2006 till date. The licensing process herein declared was opened to these applicants. Although some of the applicants applied for only a few states, the licence is for national coverage.
Four telecom firms pay N5.5b for telecoms licences
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