Telecom
5G Auction Driven by Pursuit of Better Quality of Life, Not Revenue – Danbatta
L – R: Gbolahan Thomas, Senior Manager, Regulatory Services, Airtel; Josephine Amuwa, Director, Legal and Regulatory Services, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC); Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer, NCC; Ubale Maska, Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, NCC; Ikenna Ikeme, General Manager, Regulatory Services, MTN Communications Plc, at the Stakeholders’ Forum on the Draft Information Memorandum on 3.5 Spectrum Auction hosted by the Commission in Lagos on Tuesday (15th November 2022).
Danbatta, who spoke to a cross section of industry players at the Marriott Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, during the Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum on the Draft Information Memorandum for the 3.5GHz Spectrum Auction hosted by the Commission, said there is need for stakeholders to understand the genuine vision of the Commission to equip the nation with the latest technologies and services which is the focus of the efforts to deploy 5G services nationwide.
“I want to disabuse the mind of those who feel that the objective of the NCC to auction the first and the second rounds of the 5G spectrum bands is to generate money for the Federal Government.
“This is not correct. The overriding consideration is not to generate money for the Federal Government but principally to ensure deployment of 5G services that enhance better life for Nigerians and the growth of the nation’s economy as a whole through provision of qualitative high-speed Internet services that increase productivity and efficiency across sectors.
“For those who are conversant with developments in the industry, the proactive regulatory approach of the Commission in transiting Nigeria from 1G, to 2G, 3G, 4G and now to 5G has brought remarkable socio-economic developments, transforming lives and businesses.
“This clarification is very important at this stage to put to rest the insinuations and misconceptions being bandied in certain quarters. Our intent is purely to digitally transform Nigeria and Nigerians towards becoming a leading digital economy not only in Africa but globally and where telecoms continue to be a major enabler and contributor to the nation’s economic growth,” the EVC said.
Danbatta also explained the rationale behind the need to conduct an auction on the second round of the 5G spectrum sale. According to him, following the successful auction of the initial two lots of the 5G spectrum in December 2021, the Commission had received requests to administratively licence the remaining lots at the exact fee the initial two lots were auctioned.
However, the Commission, in exercise of its powers under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, has decided to licence the available lots in the 3.5GHz band through the Auction Method which is a transparent and efficient approach that can open opportunities for new entrants as well as deepen competition in the industry.
“The Commission has committed enormous resources to ensure that harmonized Spectrum is secured and released in a timely manner for present and future rollout of services that will unleash the potentials of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), including International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT-2020) services.
“We have kept ourselves abreast of developments at international fora, including ITU-R Study Groups to enable the allocation of strategic Spectrum to IMT services especially the IMT-2020 which has been on the front burner in the last two ITU-R Study Cycles”, the EVC explained.
“Hence, it is important that we ensure the timely release of the Spectrum bands necessary for 5G deployment to the industry to enable us reap the immediate and envisioned benefits of 5G technology and facilitate the development of Nigeria’s Digital Economy to foster national growth,” he said.
Representatives of telecoms companies, media and other stakeholders made additional inputs into the Draft IM in addition to the comments and inputs already received via correspondence before the forum commenced. The NCC’s Executive Commissioner Technical Services, Engr. Ubale Maska, who is also the Auction Adviser, also reminded stakeholders at the forum that Commission will still take comments up to close of business on 17th November 2022 just before the final IM that will guide the auction process is published on 18th November 2022.
The Commission has developed a draft Information Memorandum (IM) for the Auction of the 3.5GHz band which has been published on its website on 21st October 2022, to enable stakeholders review and make inputs and comments.
The Tuesday, November 15, 2022 forum in Lagos, was to deliberate on the draft document and take contributions from stakeholders to enrich the quality of the document for auction process and towards the efficient management and utilization of this important spectrum resource in line with global best practices.
Users of satellite internet service provider Starlink in Nigeria are being required to complete a biometric Know Your Customer (KYC) process as a precondition to continue enjoying their services, according to .biometricupdate.
According to local reports, more than 66,000 Starlink subscribers in the country had a December 31 ultimatum from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to complete the biometric verification or have their connection discontinued.
The process essentially entails linking a Starlkink account with the subscriber’s national digital ID.
The NCC, which is Nigeria’s telecoms industry regulator, is said to have first issued the directive in August last year, setting a three-month deadline which was to elapse on November 19, TechCabal reports.
The body however later extended it to December 31 after consultations with industry stakeholders. The internet account-NIN linkage, the NCC said, is to enhance identity verification and strengthen security within the country’s telecoms space.
Just a few days to the December 31 deadline, Starlink’s Nigeria office sent an email to its subscribers reminding them of the KYC requirement, and warned that all those who fail to comply would be disconnected.
And that once disconnected, reconnection would depend on network capacity in the concerned area.
The service provider said in its email that the process takes less than two minutes and users can complete it by logging in to their account via an app.
One user, quoted by TechCabal, said one needs to upload their selfie biometrics, provide their national identification number (NIN) and then give their consent for the account to be linked to their ID information.
Starlink’s internet service is present in about 155 countries with nine million users, as of 2025. Its growth in Nigeria is said to be rapid, making it the second largest internet service provider in the country, according to The Traffic.
Biometric identification for Starlink subscribers could become a continent-wide trend given that some countries have expressed reservations in opening up their internet space to the company over security concerns.
There’ve been fears that jihadists in countries like Mali and Nigeria may have exploited Starlink terminals to coordinate terror operations, and cybersecurity experts have also warned of risks related to weak regulation, digital sovereignty and data breaches.
The requirement for Starlink internet users to have their accounts linked with the NIN is similar to the SIM-NIN linkage policy which the Nigerian government battled to implement for many years, with many deadline extensions.
In October last year, the NCC, which is was at the forefront of the policy implementation, announced that all active SIM cards across all network providers had complied with the directive which was issued in 2020.
The idea, the federal government argued, was to strengthen security and curb criminality such as kidnappings which are aided and abetted by improperly identified mobile phone numbers.
Mr. Kashifu Inuwa, Director General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), has urged Northern Nigeria to pivot urgently from traditional commerce to an innovation-driven digital economy for sustainable growth.
NITDA
Inuwa issued the call at the Future Map Foundation Roundtable 1.0 (North-West Edition) in Kano, attributing the region’s sluggish digital adoption not to talent deficits but to the lack of deliberate, coordinated strategies.
He stressed deeper collaboration across academia, private sector players, entrepreneurs, and government, positioning the private sector as the primary innovation engine while government supplies robust policies and an enabling ecosystem.
Inuwa advocated for people-focused, locally tailored innovations that tackle regional challenges head-on, enabling global competitiveness by transitioning from mere technology users to creators of homegrown solutions.
The roundtable convened policymakers, tech founders, and ecosystem stakeholders to forge a comprehensive roadmap for North-West digital transformation, yielding firm commitments to bolster regional innovation policies and public-private synergies.
Inuwa’s push dovetails seamlessly with the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which sets an ambitious target of 95 per cent nationwide digital literacy by 2030, fostering inclusive economic empowerment.
Participants hailed the forum as a pivotal step toward unlocking Northern Nigeria’s tech potential, with NITDA poised to lead implementation through strategic interventions and partnerships.
Samsung Electronics plans to double this year the number of its mobile devices with “Galaxy AI” features largely powered by Google’s Gemini, its co-CEO said, which would give the U.S. firm an edge over rivals as the global race in artificial intelligence heats up.
The South Korean company, which had rolled out Gemini-backed AI features to about 400 million mobile products, including smartphones and tablets, by last year, plans to boost that figure to 800 million in 2026.
“We will apply AI to all products, all functions, and all services as quickly as possible,” T M Roh told Reuters in his first interview since becoming Samsung Electronics co-CEO in November.
The plan by the world’s largest backer of Google’s Android mobile platform is set to give a major boost to its developer Google, which is locked in a race with OpenAI and others to attract more consumer users to their AI model.
Samsung seeks to reclaim its lost crown from Apple in the smartphone market and fend off competition from Chinese rivals not only in mobile telephones, but televisions and home appliances, all overseen by Roh.
It will offer integrated AI services across consumer products to widen its lead over Apple in such features, though the latter was set to be the top smartphone maker last year, according to market researcher Counterpoint.
AI Race
Alphabet’s Google launched the latest version of Gemini in November, highlighting Gemini 3’s lead on several popular industry measures of AI model performance.
In response to Gemini 3, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly issued an internal “code red,” pausing non-core projects and redirecting teams to accelerate development. The ChatGPT maker launched its GPT-5.2 AI model a few weeks later.
Roh expects the adoption of AI to accelerate, as Samsung’s surveys on awareness of its Galaxy AI brand jumped to a level of 80% from about 30% in just one year.
“Even though the AI technology might seem a bit doubtful right now, within six months to a year, these technologies will become more widespread,” he said.
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