Licencing fees for mobile virtual network operators (MVNO) have been pegged between N30 million and N250 million depending on the tier, The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said.
Tier 1 operator will pay N30 million, tier 2 operator N65 million, tier 3 operator N100 million, tier 4 N150 million and tier 5 N250 million, the commission said on Tuesday, pegging the tenure for the licence at 10 years with renewal option for the same term.
An MVNO is a telecoms product and service operator that leverages the capacity of a fully licenced telecommunications service provider or mobile network operator (MNO). The MVNO reaches a ‘wholesale agreement’ or ‘revenue sharing agreement’ with the telecoms company through negotiations and delivers its services after bulk-purchasing resources from the telco.
The defining difference between an MVNO and an MNO is that the former has no ownership whatsoever of spectrum elements, irrespective of its operational model.
One of the major objectives of MVNO is to give the providers of virtual mobile communications services an opportunity to participate in the telecoms provisioning market of Nigeria, with emphasis on improving the telecoms output of the country.
The licensee must ensure that its services are rolled out within 12 months of obtaining the license with strict adherence to the terms of agreement.
According to NCC, the licence is subject to revocation or suspension under the same conditions set within condition 21 of the unified access service licence framework. The licence can also be revoked or suspended if the licencee violates the MVNO agreement between itself and the MNO, or violates any of the conditions stated within this framework and the licence can be revoked. If a licencee operates beyond the scope of the tier it has indicated and paid the licence fees for.
