By Andrew Oota
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said lack of patronage for its auctioned frequencies was responsible for the failure to meet its 2023 revenue target.
NCC Director of Financial Services, Yakubu Gontor stated on Tuesday this when he appeared before the Senate joint committee considering the 2024-2026 MTEF-FSP.
Gontor said as at September, the commission had earned N199.8 billion out of its N387.4 billion revenue projection for 2023.
He explained that two frequencies, 600 megahertz (MHz) and 35 megahertz (MHz), were made available for auction but there was no patronage for none of them.
He said this significantly affected the revenue generation of the commission in 2023.
Gontor said, “Our revenue projection from spectrum fee was N387.4 billion. But we ended up earning N199.8 billion as at September 2023, which is a significant difference from the projected revenue.
“We hope to earn more between now and December, but we may not be able to meet budgetary projection.
“This is because frequencies are usually sold through auctions and they are some frequencies that were earmarked for auction during the year.
“However, the auction did not attract the expected patronage. Those frequencies had been reserved for subsequent auctions.”
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