By Olabisi Olaleye

The Federal Government said it would generate $224 million from sales of 14 lots of 2.6 Ghz at the rate of $16 million per lot, if the bid sail through at the auction.

The generic price of $16 million was arrived at by the Federal Government after due consultation, Daily Sun learnt. While the minimum lot, which any operator can bid for is four, the maximum is eight lots.

Speaking in Lagos on Thursday, NCC’s Director of Spectrum Administration, Mr. Augustine Nwaulune, disclosed that the approved date for the spectrum action in Abuja is May 16 while provisional winners would be announced on May 20.

He also explained that the sale of the capacity spectrum is critical at this stage because it would provide advanced wireless broadband services to the country as many subscribers are yearning for 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE), which is already overdue.

While making clarifications on the Information Memorandum (IM) that contained intending auction for 2.6Ghz spectrum, he also disclosed that it would not be business as usual for operators who bid for spectrum (frequency of sound or radio) and refuse to roll out after several years of winning the auction.

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He added that in the event of the winning licensee’s inability to deploy services as specified, the commission reserves the right to sanction the licensee based on relevant sections of existing regulations except for areas where force is established.

“Win it or lose it is the slogan. Change has come. If any operator is not meeting up despite the roll out, NCC will come after it. The industry is in need of services and we will be strict with spectrum roll out enforcement. It is a capacity spectrum, not a coverage that penetrates into every local government because the nature is different from others. It has sufficient capacity for efficiency.

“Operators are expected to go above the minimum to provide services because the whole essence is to allow broadband to be available in all states’ capital.”

For any company to be eligible for the bid, he said that applicant must be independent, must transfer an Intention to Bid (IBD) for the amount described into the designated account in cleared fund, adding that there are 14 lots to be licensed.

However, he warned that the auction is limited to licensed operators who must not be indebted to the commission.