NCC inaugurates committee on spectrum auction for 5G deployment

21 Jun NCC inaugurates committee on spectrum auction for 5G deployment

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has inaugurated a committee to develop the Information Memorandum (IM) for the auction of 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum band which will be used for early deployment of 5G services in the country.

At Senate investigative hearing recently, the Fifth Generation (5G) technology was given a clean bill of health, dispelling rumours of its health hazards.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NCC, Umar Garba Danbatta, inaugurated the 18-member Committee in Abuja, with NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Ubale Maska, as Auction Adviser while the Director, Spectrum Administration, NCC, Oluwatoyin Asaju, is the Committee Chairman.

Speaking during the inauguration, Danbatta, said apart from developing the Information Memorandum (IM) for auctioning of C-band spectrum for 5G deployment in Nigeria, the Terms of Reference (ToR) of the committee will include the development of an award process to be used pursuant to which the grant of Spectrum licenses may be made.

The Information Memorandum (IM) defines the process that the Commission has decided to adopt for the auctioning of the 3.5GHz spectrum band. It will provide information on the Nigerian telecommunications market, details of the Spectrum to be made available, the pre-qualification process, the Auction process and indicative timetable.

Other items in the ToR for the committee include the auctioning of the C-band spectrum for 5G deployment in Nigeria in line with the award process; as well as report regularly/fortnightly to the EVC through the Office of the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services of the Commission on the progress made by the Committee.

Danbatta said the outcome of the work of the Committee is a major step towards realisation of 5G services in Nigeria.