By Angeline Mgbele, Bureau Chief, North
Social media reports to the effect that one of the companies granted Fifth Generation (5G) licences by the Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC) “MAFAB Communications, is yet to roll out the service, nearly two years after obtaining a licence, and one year after the roll-out date,” are false and misleading. This clarification is contained in a press statement just sighted by our correspondent, that has the signature of the Director of Public Affairs(DPA) at NCC, Reuben Muoka.
The statement reads in part: “For a fact, MAFAB Communications is one of the two successful companies that won a 5G Licence during the globally-acclaimed transparent 5G Auction conducted by the Commission on December 13, 2021.
Upon fulfilling the condition of payment for the fee of $273.6 million in February 2022, the company formally received the licence on February 22, 2022.
Consequent upon the issuance of the 5G licence, and in line with the rollout conditions, MAFAB publicly launched its services in Abuja on January 24, 2023, and in Lagos on January 26, 2023. At launch, the services were targeted at six cities – Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kano and Kaduna.
The Commission has continued to monitor the progress of rollout by MAFAB and has been regularly briefed about the status of infrastructure deployment for service offerings as conditioned in its operating licence.
The public and all stakeholders should ignore the false and misleading information concerning the 5G rollout by MAFAB.”
