MTN has won the auction the equivalent of $67 million for 2.6GHz spectrum in Nigeria, enabling it to build a
nationwide LTE service.
At the same time the company has paid the latest $106 million tranche of its renegotiated $1.67 billion fine, taking the total payment so far to $283 million.
The Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC), the country’s
regulator, has given MTN a letter of award confirming the spectrum win, Here's what Ferdi Moolman, CEO of MTN Nigeria had to say:
"With the 2.6 GHz band, we expect to. roll out and provide the full range of LTE services to Nigerians, empowering Nigeria with the latest mobile broadband technology
".
MTN was the sole approved bidder for the auction, the company admitted. As a result the NCC awarded just 2 × 30MHz of spectrum in the band, instead of the 2 × 70MHz that was on offer.
MTN said that existing 4G services in Nigeria were restricted to large
cities.
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="800" caption="MTN office in Lagos "]
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MTN’s success in this auction
is a massive boost to its plan to deliver global mobile broadband and LTE 4G services to over 60 million customers in Nigeria," said the company.
The company plans to use a mixture of frequency division duplexing (FDD) on the spectrum in addition to its existing WiMax-based time division duplexing (TDD) technology.
MTN is fully aligned and supports the NCC’s objective to deliver broadband services to present and future generations of subscribers, in line with the National Broadband Plan of 2013," said Moolman.
MTN continues to believe in Nigeria
and the telecom company have expressed this belief in
the level of their investment, which currently stands at approximately $15 billion and counting. MTN believes that there is need for significant levels of investment in broadband infrastructure and services to truly launch Nigeria into the information age.
He finally added that he was:
"delighted that the matter of the fine imposed by the NCC was amicably settled in the interest of all parties".
Meanwhile Moolman – who was
promoted from CFO to CEO in
December 2015 – has appointed
Adekunle Awobodu as the new CFO, the first Nigerian to hold the position. He joined MTN in 2002 and has been CFO of MTN Iran.
The launch of 4G LTE in Nigeria by MTN comes as a bad news for other telecommunications companies because with 4G LTE Internet services available, Users will start opting in for MTN network.
I never saw it coming considering the fine placed on MTN Nigeria by NCC and the cost of obtaining the auction.
Well guys,
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="262" caption="4G LTE is Coming to Nigeria ! "]
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SOURCE : http://www.vistablog9ja.com.ng/bad-news-for-etisalat-and-airtel-as-mtn-set-to-launch-4g-lte-in-all-parts-of-nigeria/
