Nigeria hopes for quick 5G adoption despite poor 4G penetration, health misinformation
Pascal Oparada
The Nigerian government says it will roll out 5G by January 2022.
On September 8, the country’s Federal Executive Council approved the National Policy on Fifth Generation (5G) Networks for Nigeria’s digital economy.
A release by the technical assistant to Isa Pantami, the communications and digital economy minister, Femi Adeluyi, said the policy had been developed over a period of two years.
“5G networks offer significant advantages over the current technologies. Some of its advantages include much lower latency, higher bandwidth, greater device density, longer battery life for nodes, and greater network flexibility.”
Several countries have already commenced the deployment of 5G and are enjoying its benefits, he said.
Nigeria hopes to launch the technology via the satellite firm, NigcomSat and it is going to allow its services to ride on its C-Band frequency spectrum, which accounts for 60 to 70% of commercial deployment of 5G networks globally, reports Quartz Africa.
According to the Chairman of Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC), Umar Danbatta, in a statement, the importance of this spectrum cannot be overemphasised.
If Nigeria pulls through with the launch, it will be the third country in Africa behind Kenya and South Africa to do so.
Nigeria was the first West African country to try 5G in 2019 when one of the biggest telecom operators, MTN, ran spectrum tests in its offices across several locations. With the support of Huawei, ZTE, the initial trial was a success.
However, experts have said that Nigeria is running faster than it can catch up.
A report by Statista said that only 30% of the population in Nigeria subscribed to 3G/3G mobile broadband in 2019. The website said it is more than a 10 per cent increase from the previous year.
Jumia, the e-Commerce company said only four per cent of Nigerians use the 4G networks.
The company said that about 44% of mobile subscribers in Nigeria are using 3G technology in comparison to 18% in South Africa and 16% in Angola.
Nigeria’s mobile broadband penetration is forecast to rise to 55% of the population by 2025, with 70% having 3G connectivity and 17% having access to 4G networks, Jumia said.
But there is devious misinformation, swirling around the adoption of 5G in Nigeria.
Many have said that radiation from 5G can cause all types of ailments, ranging from cancer to the current COVID-19 pandemic.
The NCC will have a massive task ahead to dispel this misinformation if it hopes to make a success of the launch.
Adeluyi said the report critically reviewed and studied the health and security implications of deploying 5G in Nigeria, reports Premium Times.
“Leading international organisations, such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an organ of the United Nations, have confirmed that the deployment of 5G networks leave no adverse health effects and are safe,” he said.
