The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has positioned to improve on its revenue profile, aiming at N272.4 billion as against N195.8 billion income during the 2024 fiscal year.
This income came from operating fees, spectrum fees, and other sources. Executive Vice Chairman Dr Aminu Maida disclosed this while defending the agency’s 2025 budget before the joint National Assembly Committee on Communications.
Breaking down the figures, Maida explained that N137.6 billion came from annual operating fees, N26.4 billion from spectrum fees, and the rest from several other revenue sources.
However, the commission had aimed to generate N292.3 billion but missed the target due to its inability to auction one slot of the 5G spectrum.
“That is also what impacted the transfer to the Federal Government because a great proportion of spectrum fees is limited to the Consolidated Revenue Fund,” he added. Despite this shortfall, NCC remitted N111 billion to the CRF.
For the 2025 fiscal year, the telecom regulator is setting its sights on N272.4 billion in revenue from levies, spectrum fees, and other sources.
It has proposed a total recurrent expenditure of N95.7 billion, capital spending of N10.7 billion, and special projects amounting to N30.1 billion.
Director of financial services Yakubu Gontor noted that new technologies such as 6G could significantly boost government earnings.
He highlighted that spectrum sales operate on a 10-year cycle, likening it to a long-term lease where initial payments provide revenue that must last over time.
Co-chairman of the committee, Senator Shuaib Afolabi Salisu, assured NCC of sufficient funding in the 2025 budget. He emphasised the significance of supporting the telecom sector to enhance its contributions to Nigeria’s economy.
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