SMWL: NCC Highlights Benefits and Constraints Of 5G Deployment

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Thursday, at the social media week Lagos (SMWL) held at Landmark events centre, highlighted the benefits and constraints of 5G deployment.

Dr Omoniyi Ibietan NCC's Head of Online Media and Special publication moderated the session. He commenced the interactive session by  posing questions to the speakers, he started by asking what 5G is.

Engineer Bako Wakil, Director Technical Standards and Network Integrity said that 5G is designed with huge capability for our today’s needs and in the near future. He continued by saying 5G has a latency period of one millisecond. He said it is far ahead of 3G and 4G in terms of speed and data capacity.

Engineer Kenneth Uzoekwe, NCC's Assistant Director of Spectrum Administration who represented Engineer Austin Nwaulunne, Director of Spectrum Administration was asked if Nigeria has the frequency to launch 5G. He said that the launching of 5G depends on the availability of Spectrums. He disclosed that lots of Spectrums have been identified by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to aid the smooth deployment of 5G, he also said about six spectrums at higher bands have been marked down but yet to be assigned.

Uzoekwe said if 5G is successfully deployed in Nigeria, it will improve availability of broadband which will in turn aid faster downloading and uploading of data, improved health care services, improvement in ICT businesses, smart transport system and adequate e-learning.

Engineer Wakil  was asked to allay the fears of the possibility of radiation that might be caused by the deployment of 5G. He said that the radiation from mobile devices is not iodised, therefore cannot be harmful to humans.
Uzoekwe spoke on some of the challenges of 5G deployment, saying that only a capable 5G phone can access the 5G network. He said that an individual who wants to access the 5G network would have to purchase a new phone that is 5G capable.

Engineer Wakil also spoke on the challenges of epileptic power supply and lack of fibre infrastructure in the country, he said that these problems will hamper the deployment of 5G on a large scale. He said the commission can comfortably address the issue of fibre infrastructure but that of power generation and distribution is a general problem though they are working with relevant agencies to mitigate the problem.

Speaking on an alternative source of power, Engineer Wakil said that power generating sets can be bought,  solar panels can be installed but the fear of theft and damage will pose great hindrance. He underscored the cost of this alternative source of power, he reiterated that in providing an alternative source of power, adequate security must be available.