Visafone Wants 800MHz Spectrum Transferred to MTN

• Writes NCC, 9mobile, others kick

Oghenevwede Ohwovoriole in Abuja

Visafone Communications Limited has finally written to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for authorisation to transfer its 800MHz Spectrum to MTN Nigeria Limited, the commission’s Executive Vice-Chairman, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said Monday in Abuja.

The commission had sanctioned a deal for the acquisition of Visafone by MTN in December 2015.

But the proposal to transfer the 800MHz Spectrum to MTN had been controverted by other operators who argued that it could inadvertently lead to the South African telecoms giant monopoly in the market.

But Dambatta, who spoke during a public hearing at the commission’s headquarters in Abuja, said the transfer request arose from its re-planning of the 800MHz band to accommodate technology development in the telecom industry, leading to the conveying of new frequency to the operators.

Visafone, he said, subsequently communicated its intention to transfer the 800MHz Spectrum to MTN.

He explained: “In order to reap the benefits of effective utilisation of Spectrum as well as improve operational efficiency and regulatory excellence, the commission in accordance with its mandate as enshrined in the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA) 2003, embarked on re-planning of some of its Frequency bands.

“Specifically in 2013, the commission re-planned the use of 800MHz band to accommodate technology development in the telecom industry and new Frequency Assignments were conveyed this to the operators according to their frequency holdings in the 800MHz band.

“Visafone is one of such incumbent on the Spectrum that got 10MHz FDD Assignment. Subsequent to the re-planning of the band, Visafone wrote to the commission requesting for transfer of its license, including the 800MHz Spectrum to MTN.”

But other operators who had been opposed to the Visafone move fearing they could be disadvantaged in the market protested against it, arguing that it would give MTN an unfair advantage in the market.

Speaking on behalf of other operators, Mr. Chidozie Arinze, Head of Regulatory Affairs of 9Mobile, said they feared if MTN, which was already a dominant player in the industry with 38 per cent, was allowed to acquire the 800MHz, which represents 10 per cent, it would bring its total Spectrum to 48 per cent of the total market share.

According to him, “Spectrum is a scarce national resource, which is not available in unlimited quantity so, it must be regulated. It must be managed, and in managing it you need to make sure that it is used efficiently. And it is not given to one person; it’s like giving all of Nigeria’s oil wells to one individual because the person has money.”

He said 800MHz was good for deploying 4G services and all operators wanted to deploy 4G, explaining that if only one person deployed 4G and others couldn’t, it would give MTN the opportunity to virtually determine the price of 4G singlehandedly.

“They have gathered a lot of 4 Spectrum already from other sources and now they want to get this. In essence they will be controlling 50 per cent of the 4G Spectrum in Nigeria,” he said.

Speaking further, he said that the competition practices regulation prohibited the control of any facility that could not be replicated by competitors and that they already instituted a case in court against the acquisition since 2015 when the acquisition first happened and the case was still in court.

He added: “The Competition Practices Regulation prohibits the control of facilities that cannot be replicated by competitors. If they get this Spectrum, their competitors cannot have similar Spectrum; so they cannot challenge them. For instance they will be able to deploy 4G in areas where their competitors will not be. And in those areas they can charge you anything and they can offer any service but you have to accept it.”

Arinze said 9Mobile had been in court over the proposed transfer of 800MHZ Spectrum to MTN since the first acquisition of Visafone in 2015, adding that his company wanted NCC to consider this during the public hearing and decline the request.

He warned: “It might be an issue with court processes if this hearing is being conducted. However it is important that Nigerians understand that MTN fought such a similar acquisition in their country then. The case is exactly the same; if they fought it in South Africa (that acquisition was not good for South Africa) why is it good for Nigeria?”