Nigerian government agencies clash over proposed 2.5 GHz reallocation

The National Broadcasting Commission (NBC) in Nigeria has opposed plans by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to auction the 2.5 GHz frequency spectrum to telecommunications operators.

According to the regulatory body, the frequency in contention remains a broadcast frequency occupied by broadcast operators, who cannot vacate the frequency until they are appropriately relocated.

Addressing journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, the Head of  the NBC Engineering and Technology Directorate, Friday Ugwuma, said that contrary to NCC’s claim, the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC) had not ceded the right to the frequency. According to him, NFMC has set up a committee comprising NBC and NCC to work out the modalities for relocating the current users of the frequency. He wondered why the telecommunications regulator was claiming the right to the frequency and planning to auction it to telecom operators without waiting for the committee to finish its work.

Ugwuma said no telecom operator could use the frequency until a new frequency was found for those occupying the contentious frequency, and the cost of relocation determined and appropriately agreed upon by all parties.

But the NCC Head of Public Affairs, Dave Imoko, told The Punch on the telephone that the commission had not made an official statement on the frequency. However, NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Engineering Standards, Bashir Gwandu, had said in an interview published in a national newspaper on 15 December that the telecom regulatory body was clearing the frequency for use by telecom operators.

Ugwuma said the NBC has not only notified NCC on this erroneous claim but has also written to the Minister of Information and Communications to avoid a clash between two government agencies and the jamming of broadcast and telecom signals. He added that 2.7 GHz frequency to which NCC has proposed to move the broadcast operators was already being used for the proposed WiMax service by telecom operators in India.

Source: Media Network, The Punch