The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Nigeria’s telecommunications industry regulator, has again denied reports going viral on social media, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter, LinkedIn and other sites, that Nigeria was planning to switch on 5G in Lagos in May 2020, saying it has not yet issued any 5G licence. Read more
In a statement issued on May 10, 2020 by Dr. Henry Nkemadu, NCC Director of Public Affairs, the Commission said the statement from these faceless individuals or groups cannot be further from the truth as it has unequivocally stated that there is no deployment of 5G in Nigeria at the moment. It recalled that back in November 2019 the NCC approved trial test for 5G for a period of three months and that the trial has been concluded and installation decommissioned.
NCC Executive Vice Chairman, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, had said that the 5G test trial was meant to, among others, study and observe any health or security challenges the 5G network might present and that in doing so, relevant stakeholders including members of the security agencies were invited to participate during the trial.
The statemen5 said NCC will continue to maintain its policy of technology neutrality but will continue to encourage service providers to deploy the best technology that will meet the needs of the society in a secured and friendly manner.
It reminded the public that the NCC had provided clarifications of Frequently Asked Questions on 5G in view of the recent developments in which misleading materials with no proven evidence are being circulated to link Coronavirus with 5G Technology and therefore refuted the claim that there will be switching on of 5G in Lagos in its entirety.
The Commission also provided clarifications on the laying of fibre optic cables within Lagos and other parts of the country saying the laying of additional fibre optic cables is to strengthen the existing 3G and 4G infrastructure to provide robust and pervasive telecoms infrastructure to improve network performance.
Dr. Danbattaclarified that the “5G is the fifth generation of mobile technology which is an improvement of today’s 4G technology with enhanced capabilities. 5G technology provides the platform for new and emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data to improve the way we live and work.”
He added “NCC has not issued any licence for 5G in Nigeria and therefore the mobile network operators (MNOS) cannot switch on such technology. NCC is technology-neutral as such we don’t license technology but assigns spectrum to operators for deployment of any service when allocated by National Frequency Management Council (NFMC).”
He, therefore, enjoined Nigerians to get accurate information from the NCC rather than relying on information emanating from social media by some individuals out of ignorance to misinform our people.
