The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has said that it hopes that 5G services will be available by the fourth quarter of this year in the country.
The Head, Spectrum Administration of NCC, Usman Aliyu, said this while speaking on 5G deployment at a capacity building workshop organized for ICT journalists by the Commission in Abuja.
Aliyu explained that cleaning of the Bands is ongoing with the migration of the FSS users from 3.4-3.8 GHz spectrum following the ratification of the use of the Nigerian Communications Satellite by the National Frequency Management Council.
According to him, when deployed, a lot of services would be enhanced with a resultant effect on the economic growth of the nation in the areas of education, health, financial services and improvement in the quality of service.
He said Nigeria has become the first country in Africa to successfully conduct a full 5G spectrum auction without the services of a consultant and the first software auction to be conducted since 2001.
5G auction committee was constituted, information memorandum was developed, consultation on Memorandum carried out, key stakeholders responded, corrections were made on IM before the auction.
Five options were made ad two were made available. Hopefully by Q4 this year we should have 5G services in the country. The current status involves inflation and increases in the exchange rate that affects the cost of services; quality and adequate power supply, relocating of services, guard band provision, coordination with neighbouring countries,’’ he said.
Earlier in his welcome address, the Director of Public Affairs of NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, reiterated NCC’s commitment to maintaining the age-long tradition of a mutually beneficial relationship with the media.
He said that the meeting, in a sense, amplifies a continuation age-long tradition of maintaining strong and mutually beneficial relationships with the media as partners of the Commission and appreciated the contributions of the media to the visibility of the Commission as well as the development of the Nigerian telecom sector.
Dr Adinde said that ‘‘the NCC recognizes the importance of NITRA as a strategic ally, adding that this accounts for why the Commission has on several occasions provided capacity building and training for members of NITRA with the aim of providing the platform for equipping NITRA as its stakeholders and partners from the Media with the knowledge and skill required to do their jobs effectively, efficiently and in the most professional manner.’’