The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has debunked rumours making rounds on the social media and other sites that the Nigerian telecoms industry is going to switch on fifth generation (5G) network in Lagos this week.
According to the NCC, “The statement from the faceless individuals or groups cannot be further from the truth. The Commission has unequivocally stated that there is no deployment of 5G in Nigeria at the moment.
“The NCC back in November 2019 approved trial test for 5G for a period of three months and that the trial has been concluded and installation decommissioned.”
Executive vice chairman, NCC, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, said that, “The trial among others was to study and observe any health or security challenges the 5G network might present. Relevant stakeholders including members of the security agencies were invited to participate during the trial.
“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),” Danbatta said.
“As the telecoms regulator, we enjoin Nigerians to get accurate information from us rather than relying on information emanating on social media by some individuals out of ignorance to misinform our people.”
The NCC said it will continue to maintain its policy of technology neutrality and 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.
The regulator had provided clarifications of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on 5G in view of the recent developments in which misleading materials with no proven evidence are being circulated to link coronavirus or Covid-19 with 5G technology and therefore refutes 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 to the effect that 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.