MTN and Mafab Communications Limited on Monday won the bid for the 5G spectrum auctioned by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the Transcorp Hotel in Abuja.
The bidding process saw Airtel lose out in the two slots left to be filled. Each one of them bidded using the ascending clock auction system.
The NCC fixed the base price at $197.4 million while two winners got the nod of the regulator at $273 million.
Earlier at the event, the minister of communications and digital economy, Isa Pantami, said Nigeria is hoping to have the widest 5G in Africa in 2022.
“Let us not forget that Nigeria has the largest digital economy in Africa, Nigeria has the largest telecommunications market in Africa, Nigeria has the largest internet subscribers in Africa, Nigeria has the largest broadband and we hope that by 2022, Nigeria will have the widest 5G coverage in Africa,” he said.
Mr Pantami added that 5G technology can solve some of the security challenges in the country, since the technology provides real time services and platforms.
