The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Sunday said it has generated N150 billion revenue from the sale of spectrum as of May this year.
The telecoms regulator, in a statement signed by the Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, said it had exceeded its N36 billion projected revenue from spectrum license fees for 2021.
The figure, according to the commission, represents over 400 per cent increase in revenue from spectrum fees generated by the commission between January 1 and May 31, 2021, reflecting significant contribution to the revenue drive of the Federal Government.
It added that the N150 billion spectrum revenue achieved in the first half of the year had been remitted to the Federal Government in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003, which mandates the Commission to remit proceeds from spectrum resources wholly into the government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).
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Over the years, the NCC said it had put in place an effective regulatory regime, which has significantly facilitated advancements in the nation’s telecoms industry, boosted Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and improved the operations of licensees as well as boosted Federal Government’s revenue generation.
Commenting on the revenue performance, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said that the impressive uptick in spectrum fee was the result of the favourable turn of events for the telecom sector, which at the time of preparing the estimates for the 2021 Budget of the Commission, was not clear due to the
Danbatta noted that the 10-year spectrum fees made by some of the major operators directly impacted the projected spectrum fee favourably, adding that the commission believes that enthronement of effective regulation will continue to improve the general performance of the telecoms sector.
