By Fredrick Wright
More facts have emerged on why the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved the National Policy on Fifth Generation (5G) Networks for Nigeria.
The network, which is an improvement over 3G, and 4G has larger capacity, higher rates, and lower latency among others.
It would be recalled that there was a controversy surrounding the operations of the 5G Network linking it with the COVID-19 pandemic.
The 5G Policy was approved at the FEC meeting Wednesday, following the presentation by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Ali Ibrahim (Pantami).
The Technical Assistant on Information Technology to the Minister, Dr Femi Adeluyi, in a statement, said implementation of the National Policy is with immediate effect.
Pantami said these are the three major benefits of the fifth-generation (network). “In a simple language, we can say it will open many opportunities economically, academically, educationally and even in the health sector. It will also support our security institutions, particularly in areas where they need high-quality services.”
The minister said: “Mine is a memo which I presented before the Federal Executive Council, which has also been approved after deliberation. That is the National Policy on Fifth Generation Networks for Nigeria’s digital economy, the national policy on 5G.”
“That policy has been approved by the Federal Executive Council today. Furthermore, the policy discusses the benefits to be attained through the deployment of 5G in Nigeria and in any part of the world which includes, larger capacity, and higher data rate.
On the concerned about the health implication of the deployment , he said, the radiation from the 5G has proven to be lower than the 4G, televisions or microwaves, contrary to stories peddled on social media.
The Senate had earlier on asked the Federal Government to suspend plans to deploy the 5G network pending a six-month investigation into possible health risks associated with the technology.
In telecommunications, 5G is the fifth generation technology standard for broadband cellular networks, which cellular phone companies began deploying worldwide in 2019, and is the planned successor to the 4G networks which provide connectivity to most current cellphones.
Leading international organisations such as the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an organ of the United Nations, have also confirmed that the deployment of 5G networks leave no adverse health effect and are safe.
The National Frequency Management Council (NFMC), chaired by Pantami, said it will soon release spectrum to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) that meet all the required conditions.
The NCC, the regulator of the telecommunications sector, has promised to continue to engaging stakeholders with a view to developing the regulatory instruments required for the successful deployment of the technology in Nigeria.
