Mafab Communications Restricted missed the deadline to roll out a 5G community, after securing a license alongside MTN Nigeria 9 months in the past, defeating Airtel Africa in a bidding spherical.
Recall that MTN Nigeria and its market rival, Mafab Communications Restricted acquired greenlight to roll out the Fifth Technology (5G) community within the third quarter of 2022.
Each firms had paid $273.6 million for the 5G community license following Airtel Nigeria’s incapacity to additional compete for the license.
The y’ello community and Mafab Communications have two years to function earlier than NCC points three extra licences.
The Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) has granted the request, giving Mafab Communications a five-month extension for its 5G community rollout, which suggests it now has till January 2023.
In a press release, the corporate blamed the delay in acquiring Unified Operational License (USAL) and numbering plan as causes for not assembly the deadline.
Mafab Communications acquired the Unified Operational License and numbering plan on the finish of July, making it inconceivable for the corporate to roll out the 5G community, which the agency and MTN paid $273.6 million every for.
Chairman of the telecoms agency, Musbahu Bashir stated, “We’re totally dedicated to bringing the advantages of 5G providers to Nigerians and deploying a community that may drive financial growth with elevated broadband capabilities nationwide.
“I’ve little question that the service will assist ship enhancements within the fields of training, enterprise, good cities and leisure. The purpose stays to launch earlier than the 5-month extension interval and we will likely be sharing extra info within the close to future”, the assertion reads.
Airtel Nigeria and Globacom will be unable to supply their subscribers a 5G service till 2024 until they purchase the license from Mafab.
Nigeria is already behind international locations like South Africa the place MTN and Vodacom started the deployment of the 5G community in 2020.
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