Despite Perceived Challenges, More Countries Push for 5G Adoption as Rollout Begins in Nigeria February

Emma Okonji

More countries in Africa, Asia and Europe are pushing for the adoption and rollout of 5G network, despite perceived fears in some quarters that 5G technology will cause so much interference to aviation signals and even health hazards to humans, even though such fears are not known to any scientific studies.

In Africa, countries like Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya and Uganda have carried out trial-test on 5G technology in preparation for rollout.

Nigeria, which has even gone beyond trial testing of 5G technology, had concluded the auction of its 5G spectrum license, and the spectrum winners, MTN Nigeria Plc and Mafab Communications Limited, are expected to pay the 5G spectrum licence fee this February to enable them commence 5G network rollout.

In Asia, countries like Taiwan and India are also making plans to rollout 5G network. Last year, Taiwan government set aside $555 million to speed up the process of 5G rollout in the country.

Just this week, Indian telecoms operators said they were set to get the spectrum they needed to proceed with commercial 5G service launches after the nation’s Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman, unveiled plans for an auction later this year and set a target for the launch of 5G services in the next 14 months.

In India’s annual budget statement, Sitharaman announced the provisional timeline for its next spectrum auction alongside an industrial scheme, which she said would deliver design-led manufacturing and build a strong 5G ecosystem.

Operators are expected to launch 5G services commercially in the fiscal year ending March 2023.
Indian operators have conducted limited trials of 5G in various cities in preperation, though all three major providers called for allocations in the next auction to be priced in a way which ensures they have enough cash to finance full deployment.

The country previously tried to sell 5G-suitable spectrum in the 700MHz band alongside various other frequencies, but failed to attract bids due to high reserve prices as cash-strapped operators focused on 4G.
A number of structural reforms were however introduced in 2021 to speed up further investment in 5G, which is the next generation technology, in order to relieve the pressure on the financially struggling operators.

Despite the push from various countries of the world to rollout 5G, some school of thoughts are of the view that 5G rollout will not only cause health hazards to humans through its electromagnetic emissions from base stations, but will also cause serious obstruction and interference to aviation signals around the airports since modern aircraft could be so highly sensitive to 5G technology.

Recently, international airlines threatened to cancel scheduled flights to most cities in the Unites States, for fear of 5G network interference on aviation signals around most US cities.
The flight cancellation was based on perceived fears that 5G deployment in some cities in the US, will cause serious disruption to aviation signals around the airports.

Dubai’s Emirates airline and the British Airways had also announced that it would suspend flights to several destinations in the United States as of January 19, 2022, until further notice because of concerns over 5G mobile network deployment.
The move, according to a statement from the airlines is “due to operational concerns associated with the planned deployment of 5G mobile network services in the US.”

Discarding such perceived fears, the Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, told THISDAY that it was strange to read that international airlines were cancelling flight to some cities in the US, because of perceived fears that 5G network would cause obstruction to aviation signals.

According to him, “There are no known report that 5G would could cause obstruction to aviation signals. Nigeria is about to deploy 5G network and there should be no fears about perceived 5G network disruption to aviation signals in Nigeria. All these are part of the conspiracy theories originating from those campaigning against 5G deployments.”