Telecommunications operators, including GSM Association (GSMA), have called for the downward review of the N75 billion reserve price for the auction of 3.5GHz, scheduled to hold on December 13.
The operators say this is necessary to enable more firms to participate in the auction process.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently released the draft Information Memorandum (IM) for 3.5GHz spectrum auction that would facilitate 5G rollout across the country, ahead of preparations for 5G rollout in 2022 and had pegged the reserve price at $197.4 million (N75 billion).
The NCC at a stakeholders’ consultative forum, held in Lagos, presented the dissenting positions of the operators and the GSMA, which they had earlier submitted to the commission.
Other issues discussed at the forum include longevity of the spectrum licence, the auction process, the requirements and rollout obligations.
While the NCC is considering a 10 years period for the duration of the spectrum, the operators want the NCC to extend it to 20 years, to enable winners of the spectrum have enough rollout time to utilise it in offering telecommunications services to subscribers.
The operators and GSMA called on NCC to consider the current exchange rate in pegging the reserve price, arguing that if it remained high, it would discourage operators from participating in the auction process.
The Director, Spectrum Administration at NCC, Oluwatoyin Asaju, who presented the draft IM for the 3.5GHz spectrum auction at the stakeholders’ consultative forum, explained that the 3.5GHz spectrum would come in five lots of 100 MHz each, to be cleared at different periods depending on the level of encumbrances on the slots.
He, however, said for the purpose of the auction, only two lots of 100 MHz each would be offered in the first phase of the auction, while the remaining three lots would be auctioned at another time.
For the auction process, Asaju explained that it would be Ascending Clock Auction (ACA), while the auction would be software based, adding that provisions had been made for manual auction should the auction software fail during the auction process, and that there would be a mock auction that would precede the main auction on December 13.
For the rollout obligations, he said operators would in the first two years, starting from the effective date of the licence, roll out service in at least one state in each geo-political zone, including the federal capital territory, and an additional six states after the five years.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, in his address, said the planned 3.5GHz spectrum auction was another milestone in the desire of the federal government to roll out a 5G network in the country as quickly as possible.
The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said the 5G technology does not only offer enhanced broadband and ultra-reliable low/latency communications, but also provides massive machine type communications, where lots of devices will seamlessly connect and interact independently with the Internet, without human intervention.
