The Nigerian Communications Commission has stated that MAFAB Communications, its second 5G licensee, has rolled out 5G service, in contrast to allegations that the company has not launched 2 years after it was granted a license.
Stakeholders are worried that the company, which had a media launch in January this year, has not been able to make its service available to Nigerians.
Even months after the media launch, inquiries are still being made about whether the company’s routers or SIMs may be used to access its service.
While the business has not yet released a formal statement regarding the issues brought up, NCC, which provided the license, said it is pleased with the level of progress the company has made.
In a statement signed by its Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka, NCC refuted reports that MAFAB has not begun offering its service.
“The attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission has been drawn to some misleading comments on social media which falsely claim that MAFAB Communications, one of the companies granted Fifth Generation licenses by the Commission, is yet to roll out the service, almost two years after obtaining a license, and one year after the roll-out date.
“In actuality, MAFAB Communications is one of the two successful businesses that secured a 5G license during the Commission’s much-praised transparent 5G Auction on December 13, 2021.
“After fulfilling the requirement of making the $273.6 million fee payment in February 2022, the company officially received the license on February 22, 2022.
“Subsequently, and in accordance 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.”
According to the statement, the Commission “has continued to monitor the MAFAB rollout’s development and has received regular updates regarding the status of infrastructure deployment for service offerings as required by its operating license.
The Commission pleaded with the general public and other stakeholders to disregard the inaccurate and misleading information on MAFAB’s 5G deployment.
Together with MTN, MAFAB received a 5G license in December 2021. The NCC granted MAFAB a 5-month extension, which expired in January, even though one of the licensing requirements called for the licensees to launch the service by the end of August of last year.
