By TOM CHIAHEMEN, Abuja –
Chairman, Board of Commissioners of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Adeolu Akande, has assured that the commercial deployment of 5G network will build on the momentum witnessed from inception of the Telecommunication evolution in the country in terms of improvement in user experience by 2G, 3G and later 4G.
Akande gave the assurance at the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signing ceremony between the NCC and Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited (NigComSat) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Since the last quarter of 2019, several administrations have begun to license Spectrum for commercial deployment of 5G with 5G services already been deployed in United States of America, South Korea, United Kingdom, China, South Africa, Kenya and many more.
Akande noted that the global impact of 4G brought about increases in mobile usage and network performance. , bringing substantial network improvements, including higher connection speeds, mobility and capacity, as well as low-latency capabilities.
In doing so, he said, “it enables new use cases and applications that will positively impact different sectors and improve efforts towards achieving Digital Economies. It does not only offer enhanced broadband and ultra-low, ultra-reliable latency communications but also provide massive machine type communications, where a lot of devices will seamlessly connect and independently interact with the internet without human intervention. Thus, enabling several Smart City initiatives.”
According to Dr. Akande, Spectrum plays a critical role in realising the full extent of these new capabilities, with 5G’s full socio-economic impact is dependent on access to a variety of spectrum resources.
“These Spectrum will play a key role in meeting the demand for many enhanced mobile data services as well as new wireless broadband use cases such as remote object manipulation, industrial automation, virtual and augmented reality and next-generation connectivity for vehicles. These use cases will continue to increase the impact that mobile services have on societies and economies,” Akande said.
He further said: In China, UAE, Europe, Africa, India, Brazil and Australia, the 3.5GHz band glaringly featured amongst the spectrum that has been prioritized for 5G with prospects for early deployment.
“Today, we are glad that the Management of NigComSat and NCC have taken a bold step in the right direction to release contagious quantum of Spectrum in the 3.5GHz band for early deployment of 5G. This type of collaboration seeks to ensure synergy amongst agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communication and Digital Economy.”
He commended the efforts of the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC)/CEO of NCC Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta and his counterpart the Managing Director(MD) of NigComSat Ms. Abimbola Alale for taking an informed decision in national interest which will consequently foster the deployment of 5G and enable Nigeria tap its full potential.
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