5G technology will soon be roll out in Nigeria

[Yorubaboy]

Nigeria has moved a step ahead in the bid to deploy the Fifth Generation (5G) technology in the country.

This came as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) inaugurated a committee to develop the Information Memorandum (IM) for the auction of 3.5 gigahertz (GHz) spectrum band which will be used for early deployment of the technology.


This step followed the recent Senate investigative hearing which gave the Fifth Generation (5G) technology a clean bill of health.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, recently inaugurated the 18-member Committee in Abuja, with NCC’s Executive Commissioner, Technical Services, Ubale Maska as Auction Adviser while the Director, Spectrum Administration, NCC, Oluwatoyin Asaju, is the Committee Chairman

Speaking during the inauguration, Danbatta said apart from developing the IM for auctioning of C-band spectrum for 5G deployment in Nigeria, the terms of reference of the committee will include the development of an award process to be used under which the grant of spectrum licences may be made.

The Information Memorandum (IM) defines the process that the commission has decided to adopt for the auctioning of the 3.5GHz spectrum band. It will provide information on the Nigerian telecommunications market, details of the spectrum to be made available, the prequalification process, the auction process, and an indicative timetable.

Other ToRs reeled out for the committee by Danbatta include the auctioning of the C-band spectrum for 5G deployment in Nigeria in line with the award process; as well as report regularly/fortnightly to the EVC through the Office of the Executive Commissioner, Technical Services of the commission on the progress made by the committee.

While expressing delight at the current stage of 5G deployment process in Nigeria, especially with respect to established mutual understanding among stakeholders that 5G service poses neither security nor health risk to users, Danbatta said the outcome of the work of the committee is a major step towards the realisation of 5G services in Nigeria.

According to him, the NCC, in line with its mandate, has committed enormous resources to ensure harmonised spectrum is secured and released promptly for present and future deployment of services that will underpin the fourth industrial revolution, including International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT-2020) services.