News
Unnamed firm will pay US$96 million for 30 MHz of 2.6-GHz frequencies.
Nigeria’s planned sale of spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band failed to draw much interest and as a result the country’s telecom regulator is on the verge of awarding frequencies to the one qualified bidder, without the need to conduct an auction.
Interested parties had until late April to register to take part in the auction of 14 5-MHz lots of bandwidth in the 2.6 GHz band, but the process produced only one qualified bidder, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) announced on Saturday.
The bidder, whose identity has not been disclosed, registered to bid for six of the 14 lots, the NCC said. The auction rules state that if demand from qualified bidders is less than or equal to the number of available spectrum lots, the NCC will award the spectrum to the interested party or parties, without the need to hold a competitive bidding process.
The NCC is undertaking a due diligence exercise, but expects to grant 30 MHz of 2.6-GHz spectrum to the one bidder at the reserve price of US$96 million.
It did not give an expected timeframe.
