Embattled South Africa owned telecommunications giant, MTN, has been declared winner of the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, latest auction for a 10-year frequency spectrum licence for the 2.6GHz band.
MTN has also paid an additional N30 billion of its N330 billion fine as part of the agreement it reached with NCC to make installmental payments for a period of three years to clear the entire fine.
The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Ferdi Moolman, who confirmed the additional payment of the MTN fine, said: “In addition to winning the spectrum licence, we are also delighted that the matter of the fine imposed by the NCC was amicably settled in the interest of all parties.
“I am pleased to announce that the first payment of N30 billion in the terms of settlement has already been disbursed to the NCC. In addition to the earlier payment of N50 billion which we paid in good faith and without prejudice on February 24, this means we have now paid a total of N80 billion.”
The NCC had earlier confirmed that MTN’s bid was in full compliance with the relevant provisions of the Information Memorandum (IM) for the exercise in which MTN emerged as sole approved bidder. This 2.6GHz band guarantees superior performance for wireless networks, especially 4G LTE services.
