The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, said that its attention had been drawn to some misleading comments on social media which falsely claimed that MAFAB Communications, one of the companies granted Fifth Generation (5G) licences by the Commission, is yet to roll out the service.
Talks on social media said that MAFAB has remained silent for nearly two years after obtaining a licence and one year after the roll-out date.
However, NCC said that MAFAB Communications is one of the two successful companies that won a 5G Licence during the globally acclaimed transparent 5G Auction conducted by the Commission on December 13, 2021.
The Commission said that 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, NCC said that MAFAB publicly launched its services in Abuja on January 24, 2023, and in Lagos on January 26, 2023.
NCC recalled that at launch, the services targeted six cities – Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Enugu, Kano and Kaduna.
The Commission 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.
“The public and all stakeholders should ignore the false and misleading information concerning the 5G rollout by MAFAB,” the NCC said in a statement signed by Reuben Muoka, its Director, Public Affairs and made available to media houses in Abuja on Wednesday.
