CEM REPORT | Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has said the deployment of 5G technology will be of uttermost benefit to e-commerce platforms and fintech in Nigeria.
This is according to the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, while speaking at the Telecoms Leadership Summit held in Lagos.
He said the digital ecosystem in Nigeria is being expanded by Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), especially fintech and e-commerce firms, who are taking advantage of improved telecom infrastructure being deployed.
“Digital services and contents being provided by SMEs, especially fintech and e-commerce firms, will leverage broadband infrastructure and the upcoming deployment of Fifth Generation (5G) network being driven by the Commission to deliver more innovative and high-quality experiences to consumers.”
The NCC Vice said that the commission action on deployment of new technologies is all in the implementation of policy frameworks such as the Nigeria National Broadband Plan (NNBP) 2020-2025; and the National Digital Economy Policy and Strategy (NDEPS) 2020-2030, which aligns with NCC’s regulatory interventions such as the Commission’s Strategic Management Plan (SMP), 2020-2024 and Strategic Vision Plan (SVP), 2021-2025, among others.
He stated that the Commission will continue to deepen broadband penetration to create more opportunities adding that to further achieve implementation of policies to support the delivery of ubiquitous broadband services for the deployment of 5G technology in Nigeria, the commission auctioned and licensed 3.5GHz spectrum in the last quarter of 2021.
“The Commission’s successful auction and licensing of the 3.5GHz spectrum licenses in the last quarter of 2021 for the deployment of 5G technology is set to create many opportunities for the development of the industry, and as a regulator, we are conversant with the fact that a dynamic regulatory environment is needed to sustain this industry growth,”
According to Nairametrics MTN and Mafab emerged provisional licence winners, in the auction, and arising from this, the winning bid price for the auction was put at $273.6 million for each lot of 100 MHz TDD. The Provisional licence winners were then directed to pay the Winning Bid Price less the Intention-to-Bid Deposit, by February 24, 2022.
He further stated that all the policy and regulatory frameworks principally seeks to provide a platform for Nigerian citizens to engage in innovative developments for the telecoms industry and improve the nation’s ability to compete in the ever competitive global space.
