MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, and Mafab Communications Ltd. have won the bids for the two slots of 3.5 gigahertz (Ghz) spectrum.

Airtel Networks Ltd lost in its bid to secure the 5G slot.

The winners emerged at round 11 as the auction manager reached $275,904,886.25 while Airtel Network dropped off.

The license was for the deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) networks in the country.

The Executive-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, who announced the results, reiterated that the commission followed due process for the bidding.

Danbatta said that the winners were expected to pay on February 24, 2022, with the prevailing Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) exchange rate.

The NCC had shortlisted three firms – MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Airtel Networks Ltd and Mafab Communications Ltd. – for the bid auction held on Monday in Abuja.

The Commission had said the reserved price for one Lot of 100 MHz has a value of N75 billion ($197.4 million).

The auction is in tandem with the 5G deployment timelines released by the NCC last year, where it stated that the spectrum for 5G would be auctioned in Q4 2021.

Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami, had recently declared that 5G would be deployed in Nigeria in January 2022.

According to the IM for the spectrum auction, NCC will be offering two Lots of 100 MHz each in the 3.5 GHz band ranging from 3500 – 3600 MHz and 3700 to 3800 MHz for auction.

The Commission said the reserved price for one Lot of 100 MHz has a value of N75 billion ($197.4 million).

In addition to the reserved price of the spectrum, NCC said winners without existing service provisioning license will also pay an additional fee of N374.6 million.

“To qualify to bid in the Auction, the Applicants will not have to be Licenced Network Operators in Nigeria. However, any successful Bidder who does not have a Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) will be granted one upon payment of the specified fee. The tenure for the UASL will be Ten (10) years, subject to renewal.

“Where a winner does not hold a Unified Access Service Licence (UASL) which is the Operational Licence for the frequency Spectrum slated for auction, it will be issued at an additional fee of N374.6 million or at the subsisting licence fee at the time of the auction,” NCC stated in the IM.

The Commission added that the Spectrum lot won by each bidder will be assigned on a nationwide basis covering all the States of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

It warned the prospective bidders that there is a subsisting policy on “use-it or lose-it” with respect to the use of assigned Spectrum, which means that any bidder that wins the spectrum and fails to roll out services within the stipulated time will lose the spectrum.

Industry stakeholders have said that the successful and timely deployment of the technology is crucial to the country’s economy, as it is also in line with the strategy of the Federal Government of Nigeria for the acceleration of the National Digital Economy for a Digital Nigeria, the positioning of Nigeria as an early adopter of digital technology and a major participant in the growing global digital economy.

The technology is also expected to facilitate several emerging technologies, generate innovative new use cases, spur significant socio-economic growth, and create jobs.