The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) will carry out the auction of the 2.3 GHz band for commercial assignment on a national basis from February 17.
The spectrum is one unpaired block of 30 MHz, adjoining a 10MHz guard band with the adjacent 2.4 GHz band.
NCC said it had placed a reserve price of US$23 million on the spectrum band, which will be sold to a sole provider of wholesale broadband services. The reserve price is the minimum amount an item is offered for in an auction. In this case the price has been fixed at N3.6 million (US$22,500) for the 30MHz of 2.3 Gzhz frequency spectrum.
The commission said: “The proposed licensing of 2.3 GHz spectrum has been influenced by the need to provide Retail Service Providers (ISPs and others users) with the requisite wholesale wireless access and bandwidth to provide service to their subscribers in consonance with the National Broadband Plan of 2013.”
The spectrum is offered by the commission on a technology neutral basis.
To qualify to participate in the auction, the NCC said the respective operators must not be owing the commission any dues.
It said: “Already licensed operators participating in the process must fulfill all existing obligations to the commission including payments of Annual Operational Levy, Spectrum and National Numbering Plan fees prior to prequalification.”
