Mafab moves to transfer its $273.6M 5G spectrum to MTN

Five years after it won that significant deal, Mafab Communications is in talks to transfer its 5G spectrum assets to MTN Nigeria. It stems from how the Musbahu Muhammad Bashir-owned operator paid $273.6 million for the licence during a 2021 auction held by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). The development stemmed from Mafab’s struggle to build a large subscriber base, roll out physical network infrastructure, and the NCC’s plan to withdraw unused spectrum and licences. The proposed transfer of Mafab Communications’ 5G spectrum assets to MTN Nigeria, subject to scrutiny and regulatory approval by the NCC, means that MTN will absorb Mafab’s 100 MHz block in the 3.5 GHz band and its 2.1 GHz band licences. Recall that Nigeria licensed three operators to launch 5G services, where Mafab and MTN each paid $273.6 million for 100MHz blocks in the 3.5GHz band. Later, MTN paid an additional $15.9 million at the assignment stage to secure the 3500–3600MHz block. Mafab was assigned the 3700–3800MHz block without an additional payment. The auction was meant to support the introduction of 5G and expand early access to the high-speed network for Nigeria. NCC also ensured that the number of operators with access to high-capacity spectrum was limited, an approach to only award operators ready to deploy the network. As of today, only MTN and Airtel have rolled out the services. Mafab Communications has failed to roll out its service or deploy a single network mast despite hosting a public launch event in January 2023. Mafab to MTN: Nigerian internet users are winning MTN has the infrastructure Mafab lacks, which solves the latter’s greatest problem. Building a telecom network from scratch is expensive. While Mafab had the licence, it lacked the massive capital and physical infrastructure, such as towers and base stations, to roll it out nationwide. MTN already has the largest footprint in Nigeria. Mafab’s 5G launch in Lagos | 2023 This development is not a solution to stay in business. It’s a solution that will see Mafab crash out of the Nigerian telecommunications industry. The company has struggled to scale its independent network, having deployed only 15 sites since its 2023 rollout. By moving Mafab’s spectrum to MTN, the leading operator, which already controls more than half (51.3%) of Nigeria’s mobile market, would potentially have more frequency resources to deploy alongside its existing network infrastructure. Nigeria has a wide 5G coverage gap, and this deal is a progressive step towards finding a solution. According to the joint Quality of Experience (QoE) report by the NCC and Ookla, covering the second quarter of 2026, active 5G usage among capable devices is approximately 46.0% in Lagos, while Abuja has just passed the halfway mark at 53.1%.