Telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria has announced that it will begin to commercially deploy 5G technology in Nigeria before 2020. This will enable the company to provide better data services at a more affordable cost to its subscribers.
Uche Osuji, GM Network Performance & Quality Assurance at MTN, taking the session on “Expanding Nigeria’s Technology Frontiers: The Roadmap to 5G” #TechFest #SparkYourCuriosity #TechFest2018 pic.twitter.com/ttTBvCTQ8O
— MTN Nigeria (@MTNNG) May 16, 2018
Speaking at the ICT CEO forum through Bayo Adekambi, the Chief Transformation Officer of the company, Ferdi Moolman, the Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria stated that the 5G technology would attract investment in health, education, and business.
In 2017, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Ericsson to collaborate on the rollout of 5G infrastructure in South Africa as a trial. We have also tested 5G use cases, which we believe will get us ready for commercial deployment before the year 2020. –Moolman
Related Post: MTN Visits Tech Hubs, to Launch New Set of APIs and Sandbox for Nigerian Developers
At the beginning of the year, in collaboration with network equipment provider, Ericsson, MTN announced at its headquarters in South Africa that they have begun the first 5G technology applications trial in Africa.
The first mobile 5G trial in mobility in Africa!! MTN at the forefront of innovation in network technology and IoT! Bozza Network!#MTNIoT @MTNBusinessZA @KrugerMariana pic.twitter.com/mbFATzT97U
— Mandisa P Ntloko (@NtlokoMandisa) June 21, 2018
The company claims that the technology is at least 100 times faster than 4G. And now, the plan is to deploy the technology in Nigeria where the company currently has a 4G license.
The completion of the first 5G technology and application trials in South Africa saw the telco achieve a throughput of over 20Gbps with less than five minutes latency in the 5G trial.
Related Post: MTN Records Revenue, Subscriber Increase in First 1st Quarter, and Progress on IPO
The Advantages of 5G over 4G
When compared to 4G, 5G provides faster data transfer speed and lower latency. Additionally, 5G boasts of improved reliability as well as better support for more devices.
And according to MTN, the speed of 5G is the highest achieved on any mobile network in Africa. In comparison, the 5G technology has 1,000-times the capacity, 100-times the connected device, 100-times the speed, 10-times reliability, and 10-times lower latency than 4G.
5G will make our life better, drive incremental capacity and open up new businesses. MTN as a company is constantly making efforts to break barriers by democratising voice and data connectivity in order to improve subscriber experience, and has invested over N800bn in infrastructure in Nigeria.–Moolman
It is also expected that with adequate spectrum allocated to the 5G standard, the increased capacity would result in lower data cost to Nigerians.
We’ve just conducted the first 5G technology and applications trial in Africa, achieving throughputs of more than 20Gbps, with less than 5ms latency together with MTN South Africa. This is the highest achieved on a mobile network in Africa. https://t.co/HEgaeS1PhJ #TeamEricsson
— Brian Arendse (@brian_arendse) January 14, 2018
Related Post: MTN, Huawei Target Rural Areas in Nigeria with Cheap Voice and Mobile Broadband Services
MTN Calls for a Better Environment
The company is, however, calling for a more conducive business environment and protection of telecom infrastructure in order to attract investment envisaged when the technology is deployed.
According to CEO of the telecoms giant, “We will need a more stable economic climate to support investment in the infrastructure. The issue of tax must be reviewed. There must be support for telecom infrastructure as national assets to be able to drive incremental investment and make the nation appealing to foreign investors.”
Technext Newsletter
Get the best of Africa’s daily tech to your inbox – first thing every morning.
Join the community now!
