Nigeria to roll out 5G technology soon – NCC

The Federal Government is set to begin the roll-out of fifth-generation (5G) services across the country.

Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Danbatta, made the announcement on Friday at a public inquiry on the instruments necessary for the deployment of the technology.

The instruments are the annual operating levy regulations and the frequency spectrum regulations.

Speaking further, Professor Danbatta explained that the commission has submitted the proposal to the Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy and is awaiting approval from the Federal Government to roll out the services.

He added that the commission is also discussing the fees and pricing for the technology.

The NCC and the Nigerian Communications Satellite (NIGCOMSAT) had signed a Memorandum of Understanding in May to facilitate the deployment of 5G technology.

Both agencies signed the agreement on the use of C-Band Spectrum for 5G services in Nigeria at an event in Abuja.

In his remarks, the Chairman of the Board of Commissioners at the NCC, Professor Adeolu Akande, noted that in recent times, precisely from the last quarter of 2019, several administrations have begun to license spectrum for commercial deployment of 5G.

He stated that 5G services have already been deployed in the United States and South Korea among many more countries in the world.

“Telecommunication evolution from inception to date has led to improvement in user experience witnessed from 2G, 3G and later 4G. The global impact of 4G brought about increases in mobile usage and network performance.

“5G will build on this momentum, bringing substantial network improvements, including higher connection speeds, mobility, and capacity, as well as low-latency capabilities,” Akande said.

According to him, 5G does not only offer enhanced broadband and ultra-reliable latency communications but also provides massive machine-type communications where a lot of devices will seamlessly connect and independently interact with the internet without human intervention.

According to industry estimates discussed during the Better World Summit  in Shenzhen, China earlier this month, there would be 2.7 billion subscribers to 5G networks globally by 2025 and these networks would continue drive growth in the use of AR.