Professor Umar Danbatta, the executive vice chairman and chief executive officer of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has disclosed that Nigeria is moving closer to the commercial deployment of the fifth generation network (5G), currently at 97 per cent completion.
The EVC made this disclosure as the Guest Speaker while delivering a paper titled ‘NCC as a Digital Transformation Crusader and Nigeria’s in-Road to 5G Deployment’ at the Annual African Tech Alliance Forum with theme ‘Embracing changes and Digital Transformation in the New Normal’ organized Wednesday by the management team of TechEconomy, a pan-African tech-focused online news platform.
The EVC who was represented by the Director, Spectrum Administration of the NCC, Oluwatoyin Asaju, noted that the significant increase in network connectivity during the pandemic led to the surge in traffic and consequently affecting the communication infrastructure in so many ways.
“Today as we speak, I am delighted to tell you that we are already at 97 per cent completion. The Committee set up to auction the Spectrum has already developed and Information Memorandum (IM) which is already published for inputs and comments from all industry stakeholders.
“Prior to this, a 5G policy plan was developed and we have since secured Federal Government approval through the Honorable Minister for Communications and Digital Economy,” Danbatta said.
He added that already, the foremost telecoms regulator is warming up for the auction of some spectrum slots in 3.5GHz band.
The EVC made the forum to understand that the 5G is an extension of other efforts of the commission to ensure that the country was not left behind in the digital evolution race triggered by the Coronavirus pandemic.
He noted that the era brought about an explosion in the consumption of emerging technologies and the need to expand connectivity that can support social and economic lives of the people after the lockdown and remote working mode occasioned by the virus.
He further said: “There are opportunities just like we have challenges in this industry. With the emergence of technologies such as 5G which offers Enhance Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)and Ultra Low, Ultra-reliable Latency Communication (uRLC), there is already platform that would bring succor to our connectivity challenges if the requisite policy and infrastructure is put in place.
“Already, several countries such as United States of America, United Kingdom, China, Japan, Kenya, South Africa and South Korea amongst other have already deployed this technology and we are already seeing excellent results in terms of latency, enhanced broadband and massive connectivity.
“In addition to 5G, are other disruptive technologies that are also increasingly marking easier to carryout remote activities over the internet with a lot of convenience.
“This include Internet of Things; Cloud Computing; Quantum Computing Augmented/Virtual Reality; Biometrics; RoboticsArtificial Intelligence; Block chain; and Autonomous and Near Autonomous Vehicles.”
Earlier in his welcome address, Peter Oluka, Publisher and Editor of TechEconomy, recalled how COVID-19 pandemic changed everything in a blink of the eye to affect how we worked, shopped, attended to school, entertained ourselves, got medi-care, engaged with government agencies, and connected with friends and family.
He said: “The world literally shut down and everything was forced to adapt. In fact, every part of the society was affected and many still affected. The pandemic has also rocked many of the core tenets of digital transformation.
“But with a forced change of this magnitude, we witnessed the impossible become possible.
“For instance, projects that would have taken years took just weeks; business models that were dependent on being ‘in- person’ successfully pivoted to being delivered digitally, and customers ultimately adapted and found businesses that pivoted gracefully throughout the pandemic. Our assumptions and beliefs have completely changed.”
Nigeria 97% ready to deploy 5G, Danbatta discloses at AfriTech
