EARLY in December, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) caused a stir with the announcement that only three qualified bidders met its criteria for the 5G spectrum auction deployment. While leading telecommunications giant Globacom fell along the way, rivals MTN and Airtel made the cut alongside little-known Mafab Communications Limited.
But after a two-week-long bidding process, culminating in over 11 rounds of auction yesterday, Airtel backed down. MTN and Mafab received the nod for the two lots of 100 MHz TDD Spectrum in the 3.5 GHz band ranging from 3500 – 3600 MHz and 3700 – 3800 MHz for auction. What this means is that Mafab defeated Airtel and Glo – both renowned telecoms heavyweights.
What do we know about Mafab?
Mafab Communications was incorporated on the 8th of July, 2020, and licensed by the NCC to provide and operate Local Interconnect and International carrier services.
The company operates under three licenses, including interconnecting exchange, international data access, and value-added services, providing cloud hosting or co-location services.
Mafab is one of the technological subsidiaries of Althani Group, a business conglomerate chaired by Musbahu Muhammad Bashir, a business tycoon.
According to details on its website, “Althani group of companies is a corporate group of companies in Nigeria with a collection of subsidiary businesses.
“The group consists of a variety of companies with diverse objectives, cutting across several sectors including oil and gas, housing, construction, aviation, amongst others.”
The group’s subsidiaries include Eman Homes and Estate, Althani Investment, Salam Takaful Insurance, Miliband Communications Limited, Holborn Oil and Gas international, Althani Oil and Gas Limited, Althani Shelters Limited, Pelican Air Services Limited, Cryogenic Industries Limited, Clearview Apartments, and Mafab Communications.
How did the company scale through the bidding war?
Mafab, alongside the other two companies, paid at least $197.4m each to qualify for the auction, which is over N78bn. However, the auction price reached $275.9 million at the 11th round, almost $80 million above the reserve price. At this point, Airtel walked away, implying that Mafab had more finances than the reputed world’s third-largest mobile network operator.
To put it in proper context, MTN was said to have sold some shares to afford the license. In October, the company expressed concern that the reserve price for the 5G spectrum was too high.
The controversy
While it is a welcome development for an indigenous company to achieve this groundbreaking feat, there appears to be more than meets the eyes.
Some experts have raised alarm over Mafab’s legitimacy with many describing it as a ‘shell company’. Their reservations may be due to the fact that Mafab was incorporated in July 2020 – almost the same time the idea of the 5G network was being mooted in the country. It was at this same time that Nigeria was in a lockdown and the peak of the coronavirus.
It is being alleged that some wealthy elites, in alliance with government officials, hurriedly floated the company with the sole purpose of this project, knowing fully well that it will last for the foreseeable future.
Mafab’s website crashed immediately after it was awarded the license. The company still operates a Yahoo Mail which ideally was supposed to disqualify it from the bidding process.
With just a little over a year of existence, Mafab falls short of the requisite three-year tax clearance requirement for government contracts, yet the company received the nod.
Who really owns Mafab?
Businessman, Musbahu Muhammad Bashir, is the poster boy of Mafab. He is the chairman on the board of his two companies — Althani Group of Companies and Cobalt International Services Limited, a pre-shipment inspection agent currently inspection agent for oil and gas exports in the country.
The business magnate is also a director at Bento Drill Nigeria Limited, Offshore Technologies International Limited, and Resource Capital Group.
At Jaiz bank, a Nigerian bank operating under Islamic banking principles and a non-interest bank, Bashir also serves as a member of, board of directors.
He is the chairman of, board of directors of Salam Takaful Insurance, a subsidiary of Althani group of companies, headquartered in Kano State.
The insurance firm was incorporated in 2016 — operating both family and general Takaful Insurance as well as retail Takaful line of business with a wide range of products.
Takaful is a sharia law-compliant insurance structure in which members agree to provide insurance for one another by contributing to a pool of funds that are used to compensate participants who suffer losses.
But sources say some high-profile Nigerians in government could be linked to Mafab. It was further gathered that the company is unlikely to pay the stipulated amount until they are able to secure a buyer for the license from a willing organisation.
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