The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it has realised over N150 billion in revenue from spectrum licencing fees, exceeding its earlier projection of N36 billion for 2021.

This amount, the Commission said, was recorded within the five months of the year.

Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, spokesman for the commission made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

Mr Adinde said that the figure represents over 400 per cent increase in revenue budget performance in respect of spectrum fees generated by the commission between January 1 and May 31, 2021.

He said that this reflected a significant contribution to the revenue drive of the federal government.

According to him, 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).

The commission, in its 2021 Budget, approved by both chambers of the National Assembly in December, 2020, projected a revenue of N36 billion from spectrum fee for the year 2021 but has remarkably surpassed this estimate.

He noted that over the years, the NCC had put in place an effective regulatory regime which had significantly facilitated advancements in the nation’s telecoms industry.

The director also said that it boosted 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 (EVC) of the Commission, Professor Umar Danbatta, said that the impressive uptick in spectrum fee was the result of the favourable turn of events for the telecom sector.

Mr Danbatta said that at the time of preparing the estimates for the 2021 Budget of the Commission, it was not clear due to the ravaging impact of COVID-19 on the global economy.

He noted that the 10-year spectrum fees made by some of the major operators directly impacted the projected spectrum fee favourably.

The EVC, however, said that the commission believed that enthronement of effective regulation would continue to improve the general performance of the telecoms sector.

On October 28, 2020, the NCC had generated and remitted N344.71 billion to the government’s Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) in the last five years.