MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications have won the bidding for 5G spectrum in Nigeria, in an auction by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on 13 December. The NCC said that after eleven rounds of bidding over eight hours, the two companies emerged the successful winners of the 3.5 GHz band spectrum. Airtel Nigeria also participated in the auction, but did not acquire spectrum.
The auction process reached its peak at Round 11 when the bid price graduated to USD 275.90 million with all three bidders still actively participating. The main stage ended at the conclusion of the 11th round, with Airtel listing an exit bid of USD 270 million while MTN posted an exit bid of USD 273 million. At this point, Airtel dropped from the race having posted a lower exit bid, thus leaving Mafab and MTN as winners of the two available lots.
NCC head Umar Garba Danbatta said that the winning bid price for the auction is USD 273.60 million for each lot of 100 MHz TDD. The provisional winners are expected to pay the bid price, less their Intention-to-Bid Deposit, by 04 February 2022.
