FG to Start 5G Spectrum Auction @ N75Bn

Federal government has said that  the asking price for a slot of 5G spectrum will start from N75 billion and will likely go to N100 billion after the auction process.

This is coming as Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, recently announced that the federal government will soon deploy 5G network in the country to increase connectivity.

Pantami said that the decision to deploy the 5G network followed an outcome of thorough investigations, research and trial absolving it of posing security or health threat.

He explained that the work on the national policy on 5G stands at 95 percent done and will be presented to the federal executive council (FEC) in due course.

But at a public hearing of the Senate this week, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said that the asking price for a slot of 5G spectrum will start from N75 billion and will likely go to N100 billion after the auction process.

“It is very important to stress this, a reserve price for a slot of the 5G spectrum is going to be N75billion, but after an auction by the Committee, it can go as high as N100 billion,” he told the Senate Committee on Communications.

According to Prof. Danbatta, the 5G auction committee has virtually concluded their work with the 5G deployment plan submitted to the federal government, adding that the telecom regulatory body is only waiting for the government to give an order to proceed.

He also assured that with plans and preparations already in place, 5G deployment will start in Nigeria by next year.

5G mobile technology is an improvement on the current 4G technology, and it is already in deployed in some countries like China, Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand.