The Federal Government has said that it would create an enabling environment to allow for the deployment of 5G in the country.
This was disclosed by the Executive Vice-Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Umar Danbatta, who was represented by the NCC Director of Technical Standard, Bako Wakil, at the International Conference on Information and Engineering Systems (ICIES) in Abuja, according to NAN.
Danbatta was quoted to have said, “The government will provide an enabling environment for 5G deployment, but the MNOs will determine their own deployment strategies, subject to alignment with approved policies and other regulatory instruments in force.
“Securing spectrum for 5G is an antecedent for any operator to commit serious investment to 5G infrastructure.
“This makes it imperative for the spectrum allocation and assignment process to be concluded as early as possible.
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“The following timeline is proposed as optimal in the policy document 5G Spectrum Allocation (Q2 2021) 5G Spectrum Auction (Q4 2021) 5G Spectrum Assignment (Q1 2022) and Commercialisation of 5G Spectrum (Q4 2022).”
Danbatta added that preceding the deployment of 5G in the country would be the study of possible radiation levels.
He said that the test would be in alignment with the International Commission on Non-lonizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) Guidelines.
He stated, “The plan to deploy 5G technology creates need for study of the electromagnetic radiation levels which will be generated by the 5G infrastructure.
“These tests were conducted in accordance with the International Commission on Non-lonizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) Guidelines for general public exposure to time varying electromagnetic fields.
“The results of the test show that radiation from 5G infrastructure is far below the ICNIRP specification for protection of members of the public and therefore, suggest that no public health hazards are expected from the use of 5G in Nigeria.
“Scientific evidence from studies carried out by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), all show that exposure to radio frequencies are safe and does not cause or initiate the occurrence of cancers.
“We are hopeful that the 5G revolution will transform our nation and the economy digitally and become a developmental revolution as well as digital transformation tools, reaching out and bringing benefits to everyone everywhere.”
