According to a Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) correspondence on 21 May, an auction event for the 70 MHz in the 2.6 GHz Spectrum Band, published on February 25, 2016, will no longer be necessary.

The auction process closed for submission of applications on 29 April with an auction scheduled for 16 May, which did not take place.

A statement issued by the NCC, signed by Director of Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, says the process has produced one undisclosed qualified bidder in line with the Information Memorandum hence the event's cancellation.

"The Qualified Bidder expressed an interest to bid for Six (6) Lots out of the Fourteen (14) Lots on offer and paid the bid deposit as specified by the Information Memorandum on the Auction," Ojobo's statement reads. "Therefore, the need for an auction event no longer arises as the IM states that "If the aggregate demand from Approved Bidders is less than, or equal to the number of lots on offer, the Commission will provisionally award the license to the party/parties at the reserve price."

The Generic Reserve Price at which one Lot of 2 X 5MHz shall be sold, based on its ascribed value according to the IM, is US$16 million. The IM also states that the spectrum lots won by each bidder will be assigned on a nationwide basis covering all the states of the Federation and the FCT, Abuja.

When NCC head Umar Danbatta visited a northern state governor, Nasiru el-Rufai, last Tuesday, he asked his host to prevail on other state governors the need to respect and abide by the MoU they signed with the communications ministry in relation to Right of Way, closing of base stations and multiple taxations.

Danbatta said their failure to go by the agreement has been responsible, among others, for the deteriorating quality of telecoms service in the country as the telcos have had to "deal with this at different levels."

NCC says it is currently undertaking a due diligence exercise with a view to issuing a letter of award of license for the cumulative 30MHz in the 2.6GHz Frequency.

"Upon approval, the Qualified Bidder will be required to pay a sum total US$96,000,000 (Ninety Six Million US Dollars) for the license," it says.

The offered 14 Lots of 2 X 5 MHz FDD paired Spectrum range from 2500 to 2570MHz and 2620 to 2690MHz (totaling 2 X 70 MHz).

According to the auction timetable, payment for the license has to be made by 10 June, 2016.