Metal antenna symbol with letters 5G on white

Though Nigeria had on August 24, through MTN, joined South Africa and Kenya as countries that have deployed the Fifth-Generation (5G) network in Africa, an expert has said the country requires another three years for the network to stabilise. The Chief Executive Officer, Spectranet, Ajay Awasthi, who gave the projection, attributed the position to the lack of fibre infrastructure in the country. As at the end of 2021, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said there were 49, 579 towers by mobile and fixed operators as well as collocation and infrastructure companies. It added that the operators reported a total number of 38,288 base stations, while fiber optics deployment stood at 86,057km (terrestrial fiber and submarine cable) Speaking in Lagos on Wednesday, at the unveiling of new product, WiTel (WiFi Router and Desktop phone combined), Ajay said the status of fibre deployment in Nigeria was still low compared to the population, which would hinder smooth 5G connectivity. The Spectranet boss said 5G was needed for very high speed, low latency and its capacity to drive applications such as Internet of Things (IoT) among others “but to provide this high speed and low latency, there is need for greater fibre.

Guardian