As the world prepares for the transition of 5G technology from a mere concept to commercial reality in 2020, the government through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said it is among the countries that are ready for the commercial launch of the technology.
The NCC claimed it dedicated specific spectrum bands to network operators for the trial of 5G telecom services. MTN’s successful trial of the technology in three locations across the country is mostly responsible for the government’s confidence.
While the commission is yet to reveal how many spectrum bands it has set aside, 5G needs a significant amount of new harmonised mobile spectrum, hence experts recommend that regulators make available 80-100 MHz of contiguous spectrum per operator in prime 5G mid-bands (i.e. 3.5 GHz) and around 1 GHz per operator in millimeter wave bands.
The NCC has also not specified when in 2020 it plans to kick-off the launch, but Nigeria goes into the year it expects to deploy 5G technology without a plan in sight for infrastructural development. The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy had in December set up a committee to draft a new five year National Broadband Plan which sets a 70 percent broadband penetration target for the country. However, antecedents have shown that the government may not fully comply with the provisions of a new plan much less do all that is urgently necessary to take Nigeria anywhere near full commercial 5G in 2020.
“5G is not just another generation of wireless connectivity – it will have an incredibly broad scope, supporting billions of connected devices and services across a wide range of industry sectors,” Libby Plummer an official from a global technology company, ITEL noted in a company post. “It will enable the development and deployment of developing innovations such as IoT (Internet of Things) technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and immersive technologies such as Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). What’s more, it will provide the backbone for the smart cities and autonomous vehicles of the future.”
For countries in Africa, like Nigeria, experts expect 5G technology to enable faster and more stable mobile internet without having to lay fiber-optic cables that deliver high-speed broadband. In terms of boosting the economy, 5G is capable of not only meeting the evolving needs of consumers but also bring about a transformative impact on businesses to the extent that it is seen as vital to the fourth industrial revolution.
A recent GSMA report projects that by 2025, there will be commercial services in at least seven markets, including Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa, with 28 million 5G connections (equivalent to 3 percent of total mobile connections) between them.
“5G in sub-Saharan Africa is inevitable; it is a natural progression from previous technology generations,” the authors of the report noted. “However, the 5G era is not imminent in most markets in the region as existing technologies are capable of supporting current use cases and demand for mobile internet connectivity.”
Just over half of Africa’s population lives within 25 kilometers of a fiber network. In Nigeria, estimates put it even lower at around 14 percent.
It is important to note that countries approving trials of the technology have intentionally built the infrastructure to enable the rollout to a certain level of efficiency. This is not the case in Nigeria where the burden of poor infrastructure that powers technology innovations has set many operators back in millions of dollars in investment.
To be sure, 5G Technology is an umbrella term used to categorize the fifth generation of wireless communication, offering networks that are 100 times faster than 4G, support 100 times more devices and feature five times lower latency
5G technology comes with a unique architecture different from previous generations of wireless infrastructure. Importantly, the infrastructure transits from traditional large cell towers stretched over long distances to a network of smaller cells sited more closely together. According to politico.com, to make that infrastructure change, a country like Nigeria will likely need close to a million new cell sites by 2025 to remain competitive in 5G.
Additionally, the new cells will have to be connected by a robust wire network.
5G antennas, while being able to handle more users and data, beam out over shorter distances. In that case, providing access to rural communities will be as much of a challenge as it has been with LTE. Even with antennas and base stations getting smaller in this scenario, more of them would likely have to be installed on buildings or homes, according to experts at futurithmic.com. Cities will probably need to install extra repeaters to spread out the waves for extended range, while also maintaining consistent speeds in denser population areas, the experts said.
Interestingly, during the MTN 5G demo stakeholders had expressed concerns over the spectrum availability and protection of telecommunications infrastructure, as well as lack of fiber link between base stations. In many communities where operators have built towers in the past, the equipment was vandalised because adequate provisions were not made for their protection.
Older generations of wireless communications such as 3G and 4G have not fared any better in Nigeria. For example, only about 4 percent of mobile internet users pay for 4G services while more than 40 percent use the cheaper, but slower, 3G internet even though Nigeria has an extensive 4G network.
Nonetheless, the NCC said the MTN 5G trial only confirms its commitment to ensuring that Nigerians are able to access all variants of telecommunications services as they unfold and in line with their needs.
