MAFAB has not defaulted in 5G rollout policy — NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that MAFAB Communications has not defaulted in rolling out 5G services.

The Commission in a statement responded to comments on social media which claimed that “MAFAB Communications, one of the companies granted Fifth Generation (5G) licences by the Commission is yet to roll out the service, nearly two years after obtaining a licence, and one year after the roll-out date.”

MAFAB Communications was one of the two successful companies that won a 5G Licence during the 5G Auction conducted by the Commission in December, 2021.

According to the commission, “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.”

Describing the report of non-rollout by Mafab as fake, the NCC said it 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.