The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) has postponed its plans to auction the 2.6 Gigahertz (GHz) spectrum frequency till further notice.
The auctioning was initially scheduled to hold in the first quarter of the year, as announced by Nigeria’s minister for Communication Technology, Dr Omobola Johnson early February.
The new update was made by the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah, in a statement obtained by The Tide source.
“The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), on behalf of the Federal Government of Nigeria, regrets to inform parties interested in participating in the auction of Frequency Spectrum Licenses in the 2.6GHz band that it has decided to postpone the process of the auction until further notice”
Juwah gave no reason for the postponement, which is the second after an earlier deferment in November 2014, citing administrative issues.
The regulatory body is offering something else in May instead. According to a MOI released by NCC, it had offered to give 14 licences at a reserved price of $16 million (N3.52 billion) by May 5, 2015, at an auctioning in Abuja. The available slots of 14 licences will enable the winners offer broadband services nationwide, under a government plan to create a high-speed Internet services in Nigeria.
“The proposed licensing of 2.6 GHz Spectrum has been influenced by the need to open up the space for the delivery of present and future generations of broadband services to subscribers in consonance with the Nigerian National Broadband Plan of 2013,” the memorandum read in part.
Photo Credit: Thetimes
