The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has continued to make the case for the need for Nigeria to join several developed countries and South Africa that have either deployed 5G networks or had substantial investment in the new fifth generation GSM technology.
The case was made a day after the Commission announced that auction for 5G deployment in Nigeria would take place on December 13. It fixed the reserved bid price at $ 197.4 million and lists criteria for bidders’ qualification and rollout obligation for eventual winners.
The NCC case was made, by the Commission’s director of Technical Standards, Engineer Bako Wakil, who represented the Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar Danbatta, at an event organized by ebusinnessLife, an online news portal, to celebrate 20 years of GSM revolution in Nigeria and look at and the coming 5G network.
According to Wakil 3G and 4G networks can no longer meet the demands for the huge growth of wireless network equipment and machines with communication-enabled capabilities. He said there are already over 22 billion Internet of Things (IoT ) devices already connected as at 2018 and expected to reach 100 billion connections by 2030.
He added that technology is no longer rated by speed but by latency (instant response) and 5G was designed for massive intelligent connectivity of things.
Wakil said the introduction of 5G networks does not eliminate the existence of 3G and 4G networks in Nigeria, but 56 will co-exist with its predecessor generation of wireless networks.
He said 3G and 4G networks would only be eliminated when it becomes very necessary to decommission the oldest generation networks.
5G was designed to meet the very large growth in data and connectivity of today’s society, the IoT with billions connected devices, and future’s innovations and billions of these devices will be connected in smart homes, smart schools, smart cities, smart and safer vehicles, enhance health care and education, Wakil added.
Quoting several international sources Wakil reiterated the fact that there are no scientifically proven evidence of any negative impact on human health associated with radiation from mobile networks including 5G.
Publisher of eBusinessLife, Mrs Ufuoma Emuophedaro said, in her welcome address , that “it is expected that the deployment of the 5G technology will spur services that will stimulate growth in different sectors of the Nigeria’s economy, including the health, education, financial and commerce sectors.
