The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has stated that, even though the fifth generation (5G) network will offer numerous benefits to Nigerians its deployment is faced with challenges.
In September, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) gave its approval for the deployment of the 5G network across the country.
After its approval and an offer for submission of bids, three telcos — MTN Nigeria Plc, Mafab Communications Limited, and Airtel Networks Limited — have been approved as bidders of the 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum auction billed to hold on December 13.
The NCC Executive Vice-Chairman, Umar Danbatta, during his remark at a media capacity-building workshop on Thursday, mentioned the benefits of the 5G deployment to include “unique latency, improved transparency in governance, increase in GDP, job creation”, among others.
Danbatta who was represented by the , head of wireless networks, NCC,s Anthony Ikemefuna, said the goal of the deployment is to “have a flexible network that is adaptable to various uses”.
He, however, said since the “1Gbps capacity from traditional microwaves cannot meet the 20Gbps demand of 5G, we need to step up into the e-Band spectrum/fiberisation of base stations”.
According to him, challenges such as right of way issues and poor electricity supply are factors that may affect the smooth deployment of the 5G network.
“Some people write to us every day, begging us to establish base stations to their area, while some people are writing to say it should be taken away,” he said.
“Another challenge is that of inflation, because you know inflation has a way of dragging cost up. When we’re talking about 5G, we’re talking about a new radio base station. So, the point is we’re going to spend a lot of money. We don’t manufacture those things here. We’ll have to import them and inflation isn’t helping matters. A dollar is about N570 now and that’s not good at all.
“And, of course, every device that will be coming into Nigeria has to be type-approved. So, you can imagine the type of work that NCC will have to go through to type-approve different types of devices that will be shipped into the country as a result of 5G.
“Also, there has to be reliable energy. Virtually every base station in Nigeria today has a generator. Our power system has to be more reliable.”
