By 
About N362.34 billion has been remitted into the federal government Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as spectrum fees and operating surplus from 2015 to date.
Executive Vice Chairman/CEO of the NCC, Prof Umar Garba Danbatta, revealed this at a recent interactive session with the media in Abuja.
Danbatta said the commission has continuously strived to optimise usage and benefits of spectrum as a scarce resource.
His words: “To optimize the usage and benefit of spectrum, a number of initiatives such as spectrum trading, infrastructure sharing, satellite infrastructure and wireless infrastructure have been put in place to drive socio-economic development.
“For instance, the transfer of the spectrum licence of 2X 10MHz in the 900MHz E-GSM Spectrum band from Intercellular Nigeria to Airtel networks Limited amounted to the sum of N8.9 billion.
“The amount generated through that singular initiative has brought significant revenue to government.”
The regulator stressed that spectrum management remains a major focus of the commission in ensuring the robustness of service delivery in the sector and its ability to upgrade as technology changes.
Part of the initiatives taking in the optimisation of the country’s spectrum resource will enable smooth rollout of the fifth generation of mobile technology, Danbatta explained.
“It is interesting to mention that all the initiatives above have helped the commission in identifying potential frequency bands to be harmonized for 5G deployment, which include 26GHz, 38GHz and 42GHz,” he added.
