Mortimer Hope, Director of Africa, GSMA believes 2.6GHz spectrum will "pave the way" for faster networks and more affordable smartphones after confirming that Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has resumed the auction process.

In a statement Hope says since the first 4G network was launched, the 2.6GHz band has played a key role in the rollout of 4G networks globally.

"Today it is the second most used band (after the 1,800MHz band) when counting the number of networks and number of available devices. The popularity of a band and the scale that comes with it is important because it helps lower the cost of devices. 4G smartphones are still more expensive than their 3G counterparts, but prices are steadily dropping," he said.

In March 2015 the NCC was reportedly set to raise approximately US$224-million from the scheduled auction of 14 licenses for 2.6GHz spectrum.

At the time the regulator said it had consulted with industry stakeholders to determine demand and the best way to distribute spectrum, and subsequently decided to licence 2 x 70 MHz slots in slots of 5 MHz to be aggregated by applicants through the spectrum auction process.

According to the GSMA if operators are allowed to obtain at least 2 x 20MHz of bandwidth, which it says is in line with international trends, the band can also improve network performance, offer faster data transmissions and greater capacity.

"At the same time, licensing 2.6GHz is only one element of supporting a successful 4G rollout in Nigeria. The challenge with this spectrum is that the band is not suited to providing widespread coverage, so for a mobile operators to be able to offer great speeds as well as coverage, it has to be combined with frequencies below 1 GHz," Hope adds.

The GSMA leader says the 700 MHz and 800 MHz bands are gaining momentum and are proving to be good companions to the 2.6GHz band. "Operators that have been allowed to obtain licenses in two or more of these bands can combine them with a technology called "carrier aggregation" to offer high speeds. That might seem far-fetched, but the feature is also making its way onto low-cost smartphones."

"For Nigeria, a successful auction that lets mobile operators obtain spectrum in the 2.6 GHz band on fair terms would be a major step in the right direction," he added.