By Kingsley I. Ilechukwu, Bureau Chief, South West, Nigeria
Telecommunications sector umpire, the Nigerian Communications Commission(NCC), has been commended by MTN Nigeria Communications Plc for approving the renewal of its spectrum lease agreement with Natcom Development and Investment Limited trading as Ntel.
CEO of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Karl Toriola explained that the move by the regulator would enhance telecoms consumers’ Quality of Experience (QoE) across the country.
Mr. Toriola stated this in a regulatory notice, to which Cyber Era NG is privy, filed by his company on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday, December 24, 2024. Toriola said MTN Nigeria, by virtue of the spectrum lease agreement approval, was poised to boosting 3G and 4G consumer experience.
“We are pleased with the renewal of the spectrum lease agreement with NTEL, which now includes coverage for all states, including the FCT… “The lease enables us to enhance our 3G and 4G user experience as we improve coverage and capacity by utilising the spectrums,” he said.
According to the MTN Nigeria CEO: “This positions us to capitalise on the growing demand for data and improve the delivery of services to our customers.”
We can inform you the official notice was signed and filed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited by Company Secretary, Uto Ukpanah. The agreement covers Ntel’s 5MHz frequency division duplex in the 900MHz spectrum band and 10MHz FDD in the 1800MHz spectrum band across 19 states.
The renewal for two years, will take effect from May 1, 2025, MTN Nigeria stated.
Under the NCC regulatory scheme of things, courtesy of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, spectrum trade is permitted to catalyse efficient management of the scarce spectrum resource.
