The Nigerian Communications Commission has said that its plan for Fifth Generation technology deployment in the country has continued to gather momentum.
The NCC thus confirmed that its readiness to begin the full deployment of the 5G technology was at 97 per cent.
The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, re-affirmed the status of the Commission’s 5G technology deployment at the annual African Tech Alliance Forum held in Lagos, with the theme: “Embracing Changes and Digital Transformation in the New Normal.”
Focusing his presentation on: “NCC as a Digital Transformation Crusader and Nigeria’s in-Road to 5G Deployment,”
Danbatta stated that following the advent of COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a change in the dynamics of people’s interaction, especially on the Internet.
According to him, almost every means of communication has become virtual in one way or the other.
Danbatta, who was represented by Engr. Oluwatoyin Asaju, Director, Spectrum Administration, however, stated that this paradigm shift in communication has led to significant increase in network connectivity requirements as a result of unprecedented upsurge in Internet traffic, occasioned by the use of a plethora of web applications such as Zoom, Microsoft teams, WebEx, Goto, Webinar and so on.
He said this has made remote work, virtual meetings, virtual studies and virtual healthcare delivery, among others, the new normal.
According to him, though the network infrastructure in Nigeria has demonstrated some capacity to contain the surge in internet traffic, a lot of work is being done by the Commission to boost network capacity, sensitise the public and ensure accessibility to affordable connectivity during the period of the pandemic and beyond.
Due to the network traffic demand, Danbatta said the NCC was working with operators to implement a number of initiatives to ensure network expansion.
These, he said, included ongoing plan to auction spectrum in 3.5 gigahertz band to operators for the deployment of 5G network in Nigeria.
