MTN Nigeria has paid the remaining $253.86 million to complete the $273.6 million 5G license fee to the Federal Government before the February 24 deadline, The Nation online reported on Thursday.
MTN and Mafab Communications were allocated slots for the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum dedicated to the deployment of 5G technology after emerging winners in an auction conducted by Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in Abuja last year after 11 rounds of bidding that lasted eight hours.
According to the Information Memorandum (IM) for the spectrum auction, the Commission had set $197.4 million as reserve price for each slot of the spectrum. Bidders were required to pay 10 per cent of the bid price of $19.74 million.
The auction was on the basis of “the highest bidder wins”, and MTN emerged as one of the highest bidders.
One of MTN fiercest rivals in Nigeria, Airtel, was one of the bidders but did not win any slot. Rather, a lesser known entity, Mafab Communications, which is part of a conglomerate called Althani Group, owned by Nigerian billionaire, Musbahu Muhammad Bashir.
