Indications have emerged that Nigeria’s outgoing president Goodluck Jonathan secretly awarded $1bn worth spectrum to Globacom and Visafone.
Media platforms revealed that the licensing did not pass through the normal bidding process, thereby preventing the NCC from advertising and supervising an auction. They said President Jonathan directed that the 800MHz spectrum be issued to Jim Ovia, founder of Visafone, while the 700MHz spectrum was awarded to Mike Adenuga, who owns Globacom.
The spectrum became available following the migration of broadcasting from analogue to digital, thereby freeing part of the electromagnetic spectrum previously used for broadcasting. Digital TV typically requires fewer spectrums than analogue broadcasting.
