A SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE CHAIRMAN BOARD OF
COMMISIONERS, NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
PROF. ADEOLU AKANDE AT THE MEMORANDUM OF
UNDERSTANDING (MoU) SIGNING CEREMONY BETWEEN
NIGERIAN COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION (NCC) AND
NIGERIAN COMMUNICATION SATELLITE LIMITED
Protocol
I am highly honored to welcome you all to this ceremony organized by Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) and the Nigerian Communications Satellite
(NigComSat) to facilitate the release of spectrum for commercial deployment of
5G services in Nigeria.
In recent times, precisely from the last quarter of 2019, several administrations
have begun to license Spectrum for commercial deployment of 5G. As we speak
today, 5G services have already been deployed in United States of America, South
Korea, United Kingdom, China, South Africa, Kenya and many more.
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. In
doing so, it enables new use cases and applications that will positively impact
different sectors and improve efforts towards achieving Digital Economies. It does
not only offer enhanced broadband and ultra-low, ultra-reliable latency
communications but also provide massive machine type communications, where a
lot of devices will seamlessly connect and independently interact with the internet
without human intervention. Thus, enabling several Smart City initiatives.
Ladies and gentlemen, 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. These Spectrum will play a key role in
meeting the demand for many enhanced mobile data services as well as new
wireless broadband use cases such as remote object manipulation, industrial
automation, virtual and augmented reality and next-generation connectivity for
vehicles. These use cases will continue to increase the impact that mobile services
have on societies and economies.
In China, UAE, Europe, Africa, India, Brazil and Australia, the 3.5GHz band
glaringly featured amongst the spectrum that has been prioritized for 5G with
prospects for early deployment.
Today, we are glad that the Management of NigComSat and NCC have taken a
bold step in the right direction to release contagious quantum of Spectrum in the
3.5GHz band for early deployment of 5G. This type of collaboration seeks to
ensure synergy amongst agencies under the Federal Ministry of Communication
and Digital Economy.
That being said , permit me to commend the efforts of the Executive Vice
Chairman (EVC)/CEO of NCC Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta and his
counterpart the Managing Director(MD) of NigComSat Ms. Abimbola Alale for
taking an informed decision in national interest which will consequently foster the
deployment of 5G and enable Nigeria tap its full potential.
Once again, I welcome you all to this ceremony and wish you a successful
engagement.
Thank you.
Prof. Adeolu Akande,
Chairman Board of Commissioners,
Nigerian Communications Commission.
