There are strong indications that Nigeria will soon witness the commercial launch of 5G network, as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigerian Communication Satellite Limited formally signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the spectrum band that will facilitate the deployment.
Speaking at the brief signing ceremony in Abuja yesterday, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta said the MOU will help facilitate the release of contiguous bandwidth for early deployment of fifth Generation Network (5G) services in the largest market in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to Danbatta, the signing with NigComsat becomes necessary as the frequency spectrum bands allocated to 5G by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), the C-band (3.4GHz – 3.9GHz) stands out because its balancing point between coverage and capacity provides the perfect environment for 5G connectivity.
“The C-band is most suitable and appropriate for immediate deployment of 5G services taking into consideration availability of device ecosystem with 60-70% of global commercial 5G network deployment currently in the band, thus the importance of this Spectrum for early deployment of 5G services in Nigeria cannot be overemphasized,” he said.
He argued that for optimal 5G service performance, an average of contiguous 100 MHz of spectrum in the C-band is required by an Operator. However, in Nigeria, only 120 MHz of the band (3.4 – 3.52) GHz is available for mobile services while the remaining 680 MHz (3.52 – 4.2) GHz of the band is used by NigComSat (NG-1R) satellites.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had initiated a negotiation with NigComSat to make some adjustments to its satellite operation and release part of its Spectrum holding in the band to facilitate the deployment of 5G in Nigeria. Thus, the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the two agencies.
Nigeria had in 2019 undertook 5G trials in selected locations within the country in collaboration with a telecom operator. The trial, among others, was to study and observe any health or security challenges the 5G network might present.