Unstable electricity could derail Nigeria’s commercial 5G deployment

Nigeria’s poor electricity supply could be the biggest hindrance to deploying 5G technology at a commercial level, according to officials of Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC).

Following MTN’s successful trial of the technology in three locations across the country the NCC had in 2019 said it was ready for a commercial launch.

Speaking during a session tagged ‘Fifth Generation network (5G) Deployment: Socio-Economic Benefits and Challenges’ at the ongoing Social Media Week Lagos, Wakil Bako, director, Technical Standards and Network Integrity, NCC, said while the commission had identified and made available three spectrum bands for the technology, the unstable power supply situation across the country was a major problem.

Currently, broadband operators spend about 60 percent of their capital expenditure on power generation, most of which go to generators purchase and servicing.

“All the base stations in Nigeria are working on generators,” Wakil said while stressing the point that it would be difficult for consumers in Nigeria to enjoy the full benefits of 5G technology when deployed commercially.

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.

For countries like Nigeria, the main advantages of the 5G are a greater speed in the transmissions, lower latency and therefore greater capacity of remote execution, a greater number of connected devices and the possibility of implementing virtual networks (network slicing), providing more adjusted connectivity to concrete needs.

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.

However, 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.

5G technology requires a massive amount of energy to function at full capacity. Experts believe that a 5G network will consume three and half times as much electricity as 4G, thanks to a combination of massive MIMO (Multiple-in-multiple Out) antennas, legacy networks in multiple bands and the massive proliferation of small cells.

Jake Saunders, the managing director at ABI Research, says a typical LTE cell site today might draw about 6 kilowatts (kW) in power, rising to perhaps 8-9kW at peak traffic periods. According to politico.com, a country like Nigeria will likely need about a million new cell sites by 2025 to remain competitive in 5G. He also predicted that a 3.5GHz cell site deploying massive MIMO with four receivers might consume about 14kW on average and up to 19kW under peak load, in the next five years.

MIMO describes wireless systems that use two or more transmitters and receivers to send and receive more data at once. Massive MIMO takes this concept to a new level by featuring dozens of antennas on a single array. MIMO is already found on some 4G base stations. But so far, massive MIMO has only been tested in labs and a few field trials. In early tests, it has set new records for spectrum efficiency, which is a measure of how many bits of data can be transmitted to a certain number of users per second.

Nigeria’s power generation capacity presently is able to generate an average of 3000 megawatts despite an installed generation capacity of 12,522 megawatts. Interestingly,  the country is targeting a 40,000MW generating capacity by 2020 and will need to spend approximately $10 billion per annum on the power sector for the next ten years to achieve this.

In the meantime, the NCC said it is looking at alternative power sources such as solar energy and inverter batteries.

In particular, lithium-ion batteries – also used in electric vehicles – are increasingly being adopted by broadband operators because the cells are non-toxic, lighter than lead-acid batteries, and can also perform useful work, providing cost and energy efficiencies. In addition, the lifespan of a lithium-ion battery is 10 plus years—at least double that of a lead-acid battery.

However, the challenge with these options is the lack of security.

“Using green energy is not a problem for operators, but as you know, batteries are a big market at the moment, if there is no adequate security someone can steal them from the sites,” Austine Nwaulune, director Spectrum Administration Department, NCC, said.