Telecom
Buhari to Query Secret Sale of Over $1Bn Telecom Spectrums
Incoming government of Muhammadu Buhari is to focus his searchlight on the circumstances surrounding the secret sale of Digital Dividend Spectrum (DDS) licences valued at over $1 billion in the last few months by President Goodluck Jonathan, according to the Leadership Newspaper.
According to the Leadership Newspaper, the licensing did not pass through the normal bidding process, thereby preventing the NCC, the statutory body, from advertising and supervising a public auction.
Already, one of the terms of reference handed to the Alhaji Ahmed Joda-led transition committee last week was to provide a brief overview of the goings-on at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), among other key government agencies, and provide quick-fixes within 30 days, 100 days and six months for the Buhari-led government.
According to an exclusive report published this week by online newspaper, Technology Times, ahead of the 2015 general elections, President Jonathan secretly sold two spectrums in the 800MH and 700MH to the chairman of Visafone, Mr Jim Ovia, and Otunba Mike Adenuga’s Globacom respectively without recourse to public auction.
Digital Dividend Spectrum allocation takes effect from 2015, in line with the dictate of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) that television stations migrate from analogue to digital broadcasting from June 17, 2015.
DDS is released when television broadcasters switch from analog platforms to digital-only platforms; part of the electromagnetic spectrum that has been used for broadcasting will be freed up because digital TV needs fewer spectrums than analog television.
Already, the NCC is enmeshed in fresh crisis following the illegal and secret sale of a spectrum belonging to Nigerian Police to Open Skys Ltd as well as the secret sale of another spectrum to South African investors behind Smile Communications Ltd, one of the fourth generation network operators in the country.
According to the Leadership Newspaper, when contacted, the NCC director of public affairs, Mr Tony Ojobo, said he could not comment on the matter.
“I don’t have any information on it,” he said.
However, a top official of the Commission said the spectrum allocation followed a directive from the president.
“If the president orders you to allocate a certain spectrum, who are you not to obey?” he asked. “The directive came from the president and even the minister of communications technology cannot disobey it.
“Under normal circumstances, for NCC to sell a spectrum it should be by auction. But this is a directive from above.
Another source said the deal was done under the table on the expectation that the president would win his re-election.
He said NCC collaborated with the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) on the belief that the proceeds of the sale of the spectrum licences would be deployed to fund the purchase of set-top boxes that would be used by Nigerians should the digital switchover take place on June 17, 2015.
The NBC has now shifted the switchover date to December 2017.
Calls to the spokesman of Globacom were not answered at the time of going to press.
Digital Dividend Spectrum is seen as a potential cash cow by telecom companies globally as it is used to deploy few base stations that provide voice, video and data communications at the highest broadband speeds.
A top telecom expert said the market had been bastardised, systematically distorted and disrupted whilst the investors are left guessing about the value of their investments.
“The president lacks the power under the law to make spectrum allocation,” he asserted. “The president can make policy, in the way provided for by the law, and ensure that those he appoints follow such public policy. Regulators are created around the world in order to protect players in the market, i.e. protect consumers of service, protect investors/operators and deliver government policy.
“The regulators are deliberately designed to be independent so that there is no political interference in their functions. The president or the minister is not to interfere with the functions of the regulator; in fact, section 25(2) of the NCC Act prohibits minister and, by extension the president, from interfering in NCC functions, and requires the minister and by extension president to ensure that NCC functions are independent of any political interference.”
According to the Leadership Newspaper, Dr Bashir Gwandu, a former executive commissioner at NCC, gave an interview in February 2012 highlighting what they had achieved at the ITU World Radio Communication Conference 2012 which led to the securing of additional 70MHz paired spectrum and 25MHz unpaired in the bands 700/850MHz, which span 700MHz, 800MHz and 900MHz Bands from the ITU .
It was the same spectrum whose allocation was secured by Dr Gwandu and his African team from the UN body that is in the spotlight again. In fact, it was the resistance of Gwandu to underselling, without competition, of part of the 800MHz and 450MHz that eventually led to his sack by President Jonathan.
Gwandu’s sack has since been declared illegal in the National Industrial Court ruling on Dr Bashir Gwandu v President, FRN (Jonathan) on January 21, 2014 where N100 million damages were awarded to Gwandu.
Of the three bands, the 800MHz, which had already been sold in controversial circumstances, was the one for which Gwandu was suppressed for attempting to blow the whistle.
He stood against the under-selling of a 10MHz slot in the 800MHz spectrum band to a South African company called Smile Communications Ltd at about €13 million only, when the exact equivalent spectrums were sold in Germany, Italy, France and UK for €1.153 billion, €992 million, €891 million and €631 million respectively, the UK earning slightly lower amount due to imposed strict coverage obligations.
In a related development, Belgium, a country of just 11 million people, raised €120million for each of the three slots of the 800MHz spectrum, generating a revenue of €360million.
And in a rather complicated mixture of 4G Spectrum slots, the Netherlands was only recently able to raise €3.8 billion from the 4G auction. So, each of the 10MHz paired spectrum slots in the 800MHz bands secured over a billion dollars for some countries in Europe.
The spectrum that was secured by Gwandu, totalling 70MHz duplex and 25MHz simplex, was 30MHz Duplex in the 700MHz band, 30MHz Duplex in the 800MHz band, 10MHz Duplex in the 900MHz band as well as 25MHz in the 700MHz simplex.
In particular, the specific bands are 703-733/758-788MHz, 791-721/832-862MHz, 880-890/925-935MHz, as well as 733-758MHz Simplex.
According to experts, each of the seven slots of 10MHz will fetch no less than $1billion in Germany for example.
MTN Nigeria has said that there are plans to deploy an artificial intelligence (AI) technology to monitor and protect its fibre optic cables across the country.
Yahaya Ibrahim, chief technical officer (CTO), MTN, said the technology will detect vibrations, identify the cause, and alert relevant personnels.
According to Ibrahim who spoke during a session for the ongoing MTN Media Innovation Progamme, the proposed innovation comes amid concerns over the growing spate of telecoms infrastructure vandalism, which have led to multiple cable cuts, and the destruction of towers.
This, he said, would enable the company to promptly deploy agents to the site.
The system is being developed in collaboration with Huawei Technologies.
Providing data on fibre cut incidents in an email correspondence, the CTO said MTN recorded over 9,000 cable cuts in 2024.
He said 4,700 cables were destroyed as at the end of June 2025 alone, bringing the total to about 13,700 incidents in 18 months.
A breakdown of the incidents by zone showed that about 2,500 cuts occurred in northern Nigeria, 2,800 in south-west, while 3,500 were recorded in the south-east and south-south regions combined.
“If we look at the cuts per region, the Southeastern and South South states have more cuts and this is where we have the most hotspots for Fibre and site vandalism,” Ibrahim said.
“Akwa Ibom, Abia and Rivers stand out in states. While in specific locations Omoku and Egbema stand out for fibre vandalization.”
The MTN official said vandalism and road construction account for 69 percent of total cable cuts across the country.
Ibrahim said the incidents often disrupt services, with an average downtime of 15 hours recorded per month.
“Some regions are higher than others,” he said.
“All services will be down, that means no one will be able to use any services.
“We spent N17.6b in 2024 and budget for 2025 based on PO issued for maintenance and relocation is N26.3b.”
In addition to the expenditure, MTN is said to also conduct route patrol, route monitoring, and construction bypass — which involves the creation an alternative route that allows for the temporary or permanent relocation of essential resources around a construction site.
Ibrahim said the telco also invests in having a diverse route for resilience, relocation of fibre, holding stakeholder engagement, and working with communities for policing.
The technical officer confirmed that there are collaborations in place with state and federal authorities to secure fibre routes.
National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) and the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) on Monday, 28th July 2025, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the implementation of “Nigeria First” Policy on Procurement, projects and other related matters.
The Nigeria First Policy is an initiative of the Federal Government, aimed at promoting Nigerian-made goods, services and utilization of Local content, infrastructures and other value chain.
As part of the Renewed Hope Agenda initiative of the Government, the policy seeks to encourage local production and consumption of Nigerian goods or services, also to support Nigerian business and entrepreneurs, foster economic growth and development, reduce dependency on imported goods and to promote Nigerian culture and identity. Also, by prioritizing local content, the policy aimed to create jobs, stimulate economic activity, and increase Nigeria’s global competitiveness.
Speaking at the MoU signing ceremony which took place at the Headquarters of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) office in Abuja, the Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive of NASENI, Mr. Khalil Suleiman Halilu, said, with the signing of MoU and implementation of the Nigeria First Policy, 80% of challenges faced while trying to convince investors and foreign partners would have been solved, as Nigeria will cease to be dumping ground for foreign goods, while focusing on promotion of Nigerian products, goods and services.
Halilu said that with support now coming from BPP, the over 50 market ready NASENI products will be off the shelves and gain patronage of Nigerians, adding that NASENI has gained for the country over 2 billion dollars from its recent partnership activities with China alone.
“One thing that is clear when I took over the leadership of NASENI was the determination to move the Agency from just producing prototypes to commercialization of its technologies and products, this was complemented by the turn around which we did in rebranding the Agency.
“We have 50 market-ready Nigeria branded products. NASENI is building the biggest renewable energy park in Nasarawa and has entered into partnership with Abuja Technology Village to boost Technology Transfer and innovation, enhance local manufacturing capacity, transform NASENI’s research-focused installation into full production facilities, promote national brands and local production”, he further explained.
Buttressing the partnership between NASENI and BPP, he said that it is expected that the policy would have transformative impacts on Nigeria’s economy and human capital development, aligning with national goals for industrialization, youth employment, and economic diversification. “This also shows that our efforts are not in vain:”
Earlier in his speech, the Director-General of Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP) Dr. Adebowale Adedokun said that the MoU between BPP and NASENI offers a structured bridge between production and procurement and how to take locally made solutions off the shelves and to place them at the center of public service delivery, which aimed at aligning Government policies with national priorities as well as giving practical force to the Nigeria First Policy.
According to him, “NASENI’s innovations, from tractors to tablets, from surveillance drones to solar backup systems, will now be actively prioritized in the procurement plans by Ministries, Departments, and Agencies. We are institutionalizing a framework that makes local options not just preferable, but the default option before all others.
Specifically, he said further that with the signing of the MoU, the “BPP will now integrate NASENI’s Product catalogue into the Nigeria Open Contracting Portal, NOCOPO, and therefore encouraging other MDAs to follow suit”
He noted that the “Nigeria First Policy is not an act of protectionism, but an act of patriotism grounded in performance, and it is targeted at fastracking Nigeria’s industrial revolution”. He remarked that “NASENI has invested in quality assurance. Its products are certified by national institutions such as SON and NAFDAC. This means NASENI’s offerings will now be visible, verifiable, and measurable across all MDAs. First, we are integrating NASENI’s catalogue into the Nigeria Open Contracting Portal, NOCOPO. Between January and June this year alone, NOCOPO’s enhanced price intelligence has helped Nigeria save over 173 billion naira, 155 million dollars, and 1.7 million euros.”
While calling on all MDAs to follow NASEN’s footprint in promoting Made in Nigeria products, he said that the BPP’s revised threshold is now five billion naira for goods and ten billion for works, meaning that MDAs can act faster, while they continue to strengthen post-review and audit mechanisms.
He emphasized that the role of BPP is to ensure that these standards are rewarded with access, and that MDAs no longer look outside when the best is being made inside. “For the avoidance of doubt, let me say here that we will be backing this commitment with reform actions”.
Telecom
Treepz Launches in Canada, Secures University of Toronto-Supported Program as First Corporate Travel Client
Treepz, Africa’s fast-growing corporate mobility technology company, has expanded its operations into Canada, marking a significant milestone in its global strategy. The announcement was made at Brampton City Hall, Ontario, with full support from the Mayor of Brampton, Patrick Brown.
The event, which featured key stakeholders and dignitaries, included the official announcement of Treepz’s partnership with the African Impact Initiative, a University of Toronto-sponsored program. Under the agreement, Treepz will provide comprehensive travel logistics—including flights, accommodation, experiences, and ground transportation—for program participants visiting four African countries: South Africa, Kenya, Ghana, and Rwanda.
Speaking at the launch, Mayor Brown described the expansion as “a proud moment for Brampton,” lauding Treepz’s founders for creating a brand that has served over six million customers since its inception in Nigeria in 2019. He added that Treepz’s ability to manage mobility in Lagos, one of Africa’s busiest cities, is a testament to the strength of its operational capacity.
Onyeka Akumah, Treepz Founder and CEO, expressed gratitude to city officials and program partners, noting that the move solidifies Treepz’s role as a globally recognized African brand.
“This launch is a strong statement of intent, not just for Treepz, but for all African startups. We are proud to be serving clients in both Africa and North America,” he said.
Treepz’s entry into Canada was supported by several Canadian organisations, including the World Trade Center’s TAP program, the Black Entrepreneurship Alliance, and the BHive Program.
It follows Treepz’s participation in the Techstars Toronto Accelerator in 2021, which played a pivotal role in its expansion roadmap.
The launch signals a new era for Treepz’s operations and marks a historic moment for African-led innovation in the global travel technology space.
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