Experts in the ICT industry have said that the quest by Nigeria to roll-out 5G network by 2020 can only materialise if certain infrastructural gaps are bridged, technology experts,acknowledged that Nigeria cannot be left behind in the new revolution, having failed to benefit adequately in the second and third industrial revolution.
According to the President Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Olusola Teniola, said the country can find test beds and experimental 5G limited networks.
“expectations that many areas of Nigeria will suddenly have deployments of 5G networks with usable demand cases is not feasible until the country has sorted the fiber network deployments to the many towers hosting base transceiver stations (BTSs) that may have been upgraded to 5G.”
The expert cautioned that except policies are in place, infrastructures are upgraded, demands rise and government shows commitment and readiness to run a digital economy, the plan may wobble.
“Already the Global System for Mobile telecommunications Association (GSMA) has revealed that unlocking the right spectrum for the mobile industry to deliver innovative 5G services across different sectors could add $565 billion to global GDP and $152 billion in tax revenue from 2020 to 2034.”
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said the country will roll-out 5G network through the 2.6GHz, 3.8GHz and 4.2GHz spectrum bands in 13 months time.
He stressed that the success case of 5G is dependent on available devices and phones, adding that if one uses 4G as a benchmark, it will be apparent that 4G hasn’t really reached its full potential as expected in Nigeria.
From his perspective, the Director-General, Delta State Innovation Hub (DSHUB), Chris Uwaje, noted that the national ICT infrastructure has come a long way, jumping from one inconclusive road-map to another without exhausting the life-time span expectancy and benefits of the one at hand.
According to him, many years ago, when Nigeria jumped to 3G, India was still implementing 2G while understudying their next steps.
“I will say uninterrupted power supply and alternate power; mandatory nation-wide optic fibre infrastructure deployment and software development and engineering capacity building should be the country’s top-most priority.”
Uwaje, who said research, has shown that there is a critical flaw in the rollout of 4G worldwide, because it concentrated on content (data) without voice, which is what 5G is attempting to rectify.
“Without effectively implementing the broadband road-map with mandatory migration to IPv6, technology will only increase the deployment costs exponentially.” He added