NCC records 400% revenue increase, remits N150bn

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has disclosed that between January 1 and May 31, 2021, it earned over N150 billion in revenue from spectrum licensing fees.

A statement issued on Sunday by the agency’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr Ikechukwu Adinde, disclosed that this amount surpassed the N36 billion projections by 400 percent.

According to Adinde, the performance reflected a significant contribution to the revenue drive of the Federal Government adding that the N150 billion spectrum revenue achieved in the first half of the year has been remitted to the government in line with the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act (NCA), 2003.

The act mandates the Commission to remit proceeds from spectrum resources wholly into the government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF).

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Adinde also said that the activities of the commission boosted the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and improved the operations of licensees as well as boosted the government’s revenue generation.

Commenting on the revenue performance, the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, said that the impressive uptick in spectrum fee was the result of the favourable turn of events for the telecom sector, which at the time of preparing the estimates for the 2021 budget of the commission was not clear due to the ravaging impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.

Danbatta noted that the 10-year spectrum fees made by some of the major operators directly impacted the projected spectrum fee favourably, adding that the commission believes that the enthronement of effective regulation will continue to improve the general performance of the telecoms sector.

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