The Nigerian Communications Satellite (NigComSat) and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have
developed and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on the use of C-band
spectrum for 5G services in Nigeria, which has already been deployed in some
countries like China, Australia, New Zealand, and Thailand.
On Wednesday, Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman
of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with the Nigerian Communications Satellite Limited
(NigComSat) at the headquarters of the commission in Abuja.
The MoU was on the use of C-band spectrum for 5G services in
Nigeria.
In his remarks, Danbatta said the C-band is the most
suitable frequency spectrum band for the deployment of 5G network.
He said the commission initiated negotiation with NigComSat
in making some adjustment to its satellite operation to release part of its
spectrum holding in the band to facilitate the deployment of 5G in Nigeria.
“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 over emphasized.
“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 two agencies have been in discussions on how to
relocate the operations of NG-1R to the standard C-band 300MHz (3.9GHz –
4.2GHz) potion of the band, which is more suitable in terms of Satellite
service offering because end user terminal are cheaper there, while leaving the
non-standard C-band 400MHz (3.5GHz – 3.9GHz) portion of the band for 5G use.
“The cost of relocating the NG-1R is expected to be offset
from the proceeds of the auction of the 5G Spectrum.”
On his part, Adeolu Akande, NCC board chairman, said 5G
network has been deployed in several developed countries.
Akande said 5G does not only offer enhanced broadband and
ultra-reliable latency communications but also provides massive machine type
communications, where a lot of devices will seamlessly connect and
independently interact with the internet without human intervention.
“In recent times, precisely from the last quarter of 2019,
several administrations have begun to license Spectrum for commercial
deployment of 5G. Today, 5G services has already been deployed in United States
of America, South Korea and many more countries,” he said.
“Telecommunication evolution from inception to date has led
to improvement in user experience witnessed from 2G, 3G and later 4G. The
global impact of 4G brought about increases in mobile usage and network
performance.
“5G will build on this momentum, bringing substantial
network improvements, including higher connection speeds, mobility and
capacity, as well as low-latency capabilities.
“Spectrum plays a critical role in realising the full extent
of these new capabilities. Thus, 5G’s full socio-economic impact is dependent
on access to a variety of spectrum resources.”
Reacting to the development, Abimbola Alale, managing
director of NigComSat, said the MoU would change the narratives of digital and
telecommunications industry in the country.
The highlight of the ocassion was the signing of the
memorandum by Executive Vice Chairman (EVC)/CEO of NCC Prof. Umar Garba
Danbatta and his counterpart the Managing Director(MD) of NigComSat Ms.
Abimbola Alale.
The signing of the memorandum was witnessed by the top
management teams of the two organisations.
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