NIGERIA: FEC approves National Policy on 5G Network

The Federal Executive Council has approved the National Policy on Fifth Generation (5G) Networks for Nigeria’s Digital Economy.

The 5G Policy was approved by the Council yesterday following the presentation by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami while the implementation of the National Policy takes immediate effect.

Consequently, the National Frequency Management Council (NFMC) will soon release spectrum to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) that meet all the required conditions.

Technical Assistant (on Information Technology) to the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Femi
Adeluyi who disclosed this is a statement in Abuja, noted that the National Policy has been developed over a period of 2 years, due to the need for extensive stakeholder engagement and the need to ensure adequate public awareness and sensitization.

He observed that the stakeholder engagement was thorough and multi-sectoral in nature. It also took into account the report of the 3-month 5G trials that commenced on the 25th of November 2019 adding that the report critically reviewed and studied the health and security implications of deploying 5G in Nigeria.

He stated that leading international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an organ of the United Nations, have confirmed that the deployment of 5G networks leave no adverse health effect and are safe.

He explained that 5G networks offer significant advantages over the current technologies stressing that some of its advantages include much lower latency, higher bandwidth, greater device density, longer battery life for nodes and greater network flexibility.

According to Adeluyi, several countries have already commenced the deployment of 5G and are enjoying its benefits and these countries include the United States, United Kingdom, Republic of Korea, South Africa and Lesotho, to mention but a few.

He said that the NCC, as the regulator of the telecommunications sector, will continue engaging stakeholders with a view to developing the regulatory instruments required for the successful deployment of the technology in Nigeria.