BOTCHED 5G SERVICES  AND THE WI-FI GAMBLE

 SONNY ARAGBA-AKPORE writes that the fifth generation technology and services is still a mirage

When fully implemented,Fifth Generation (5G) technology and services will transform the telecommunications landscape in Nigeria like nothing else before it,Isa Pantami,the immediate past Communications and Digital Economy Minister boasted on the eve of the 5G auction three years ago.He spoke with certainty and confidence.

And like in a relay race,the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC),Umar Garba Danbatta took the baton and began the spirited advocacy building frenzied hypes around the auction.

Pantami had allegedly misled President Muhammadu Buhari, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) and everyone else in the country to believe that 5G will provide life abundance with unbelievable internet speed like lightening.

The first auction saw MTN and Mafab Communications limited (a Special Purpose Vehicle) winning two available

 lots at a bid price  of $273.6m each.

A little over a year later,Airtel Africa got a third lot thus

completing the experimental triumvirate.

But that is where the story of 5G ends so much that even the people at NCC cannot in all sincerity beat their chests to say 5G exists and will gladly list it as part of their achievements.

If it exists at all,it is better imagined because nothing is being said about it either on earth or elsewhere.

5G networks are not visible.Perhaps it is available and in use by an insignificant fraction of the population.

Even the licence beneficiaries speak about it in subdued tones and perhaps see the investment like it’s often said in local parlance as “bad market “.

Elsewhere in Africa,some countries are in the race and even though they are yet to fully achieve meaningful milestones,there are strong indications that they are coasting home to victory in this race.Not yet in Nigeria.

   The India example is exemplary.Perhaps,many countries should visit India and ask them how they were able to achieve the milestones especially in a country of over 1.428 billion population.

The Indian regulator created a workable template introducing a business model that

 allows beneficiaries of the bid to stagger license fees payments over a period of 10 years to enable them deploy services sensing that equipment and infrastructure for 5G is not a walk in the park.

And the operators appreciate that move.

But in Nigeria,the people who midwifed 5G did it to raise money for government and allegedly made some consultants smile to the bank after collecting their well appointed commissions.

And now neither the license beneficiaries nor the people they are supposed to serve have anything to show for all the troubles.

But while consumers are in a dilemma waiting for when the services will ever come,the NCC on September 19,2024 announced in Lagos another experiment if not a gamble.

   It is introducing Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi 6) which they claim will bridge the digital divide whereby the speed of internet will be “amazing.”

Globally,Wi-Fi 6 is not new.It has taken root in parts of the world including the United States,(USA),South Korea,Canada,U.K and many others.

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) created workable templates for it some of which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the USA had adopted with a home grown modification.

So if Nigeria adopts it,the question is how prepared is the regulator in Abuja to manage it for the benefit of consumers? Will it be another hype like we saw in 5G?

Speeches and more speeches were made on September 19,2024 in Lagos on the subject with a number of participants having their reservations if not misgivings.

  When the NCC   conducted the 5G auction of two lots of 100 MHz slots of 3.5 GHz band for the deployment of 5G networks in Nigeria it was done with fanfare likened to bazaar of sorts.

Three companies participated in the auction process and the bidding commenced at $199.37m, as against the reserve price of $197.4m (75 billion naira) set by the NCC

After 11 rounds of bidding, the auction ended at $273.6m for each available lot with MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and Mafab Communications Limited emerging as preferred bidders. 

And the preferred bidders were 

expected to pay the winning bid price, less the Intention-to-Bid Deposit, no later than February 24,2022.

MTN was to pay an additional sum of $15.9m to be assigned the preferred Lot One (3500-3600

MHz), while Mafab was assigned Lot Two (3700-3800 MHz), at no extra cost. 

  In addition, Mafab was required to acquire a Unified Access Service License, which is the operational license for the frequency spectrum at an additional fee of N374.6m (approximately $905,000 then).

Aragba-Akpore is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board