MTN gets six slots in 2.6GHz spectrum auction

Facts emerged yesterday that MTN Nigeria was the only operator, which bided for slots in the 2.6GHz spectrum auction and got six out of the 14 slots offered for auction by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, who disclosed this, hinted that the commission would review the process.

He lauded the performance of the nation’s telecommunications industry in the first quarter of 2016, which he said would even improve in the subsequent quarters of the year.

According to a statement, signed by his Special Assistant on Media, Yakubu Musa, Danbatta disclosed this when he received in Abuja, yesterday, a consortium of international investors led by UBS South Africa, stressing that the commission would soon meet with operators over the recent auction of 2.6GHz spectrum, which saw only MTN Nigeria, bid for six out of 14 available slots.

“I think we are happy with the level of compliance to regulatory stipulations in general, minus the MTN incident, which cast some sort of shadow in our regulatory derive to ensure sustainability and stability of the industry.

“In monetary terms this is going to translate to over N1.4 trillion, only in the first quarter of this year,” he explained.

Answering question on the 2.6.GHz spectrums auction, the EVC said: “ We are doing a post mortem. And we have not yet met with the operators to find out why they did not bid, except one operator.”