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The Executive Vice Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the regulator has declined a request by MTN to acquire the spectrum being used by Visafone even though it approved the acquisition of 100 per cent shareholding in the company by MTN.
Prof. Danbatta, disclosed this in Abuja while answering questions from newsmen at a press conference to mark the one year anniversary of his administration.
The NCC Boss argued that the acquisition of Visafone’s frequency could perpetuate MTN’s dominant position in the Nigerian telecommunications market, adding that the regulator would call for a public inquest on the request.
He also said that MTN would roll out services on the 2.6MHz spectrum acquired through a bidding process.
“In the recent wireless broadband frequency bidding process for the 2.6MHz spectrum by the commission, MTN Nigeria Limited emerged the winner of six slots. The licensing of frequency in this slot has suffered several setbacks until recently when six slots out of 14 made available by the commission were allocated for immediate deployment of 4G-LTE services.” Danbatta said.
Meanwhile, the NCC Boss has written the Attorney General of the Federation, AGF and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, demanding the transfer of the initial N50bn paid by MTN Nigeria Communications to the regulator’s account with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The NCC boss, who said the money had been lodged in a recovery account opened by the AGF with the CBN, added that it needed to be transferred to the NCC account before it could be moved to the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Government.
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