The rollout and adoption of 5G network in the country is being threatened by the inadequacy in infrastructure spread in the country
President of Association of Telecommunication Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) Tony Izuagbe, made this known in a media chat on Tuesday.
According to him, the 5G technology rollout needed more infrastructure and more connectivity between the infrastructure.
Information from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows that 5G subscriptions in the country was at 0.83 per cent as of August 2023, while 4G subscription in the country is still at about 28 per cent, with operators still investing in infrastructure to expand the network.
He said the adoption rate of the technology’s adoption would depend on the availability of the infrastructure that would support it.
Izuagbe noted that 5G network requires almost three times as many base stations as the 4G technology will require.
According to him, the 5G network would enable advanced technology, especially in areas with a high concentration of organizations leveraging technology and high data usage.
He also stated that the 5G technology is a great enabler, particularly as the world has moved into the Internet of Things era.
“We are getting to an era where even your common household appliances become connected to the internet; 5G will enable that. There are also other things that 5G can enable. For example, when you talk about smart city, smart homes and having Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras around the country, all these can be 5G-enabled.
“The 5G technology is for faster speed, more communication between devices, faster upload, smart city-enabled – enabling more devices to the cloud – and faster broadband spread to allow more devices on the network.
“As we speak, in China, the 6G technology has already been deployed due to high data usage and heavy technological advancement,’’ he said.
On deploying the 5G network at the grassroots, the ATCON president said that the proliferation of services was more important.
He said that ensuring that everybody, whether in the urban or rural centre, had access to communication should be the focus.
“What we should be looking at is the proliferation of services so that everybody has access to communication. That is the first step. I won’t say 5G is not important or 4G. Access to communication is what we should be thinking about.
“We should not be carried away with whether the 5G technology is reaching the grassroots; rather, we should be asking ourselves what the grassroots people need or what communication is needed at that level,” he said.
