Telecoms operators under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has expressed surprise over the recent call by Senate to suspend the planned rollout of the 5G network in Nigeria.
The Senate last week, called for the suspension of the network’s rollout until further notice.
The Senate directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and the Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to put the exercise on hold to enable the lawmakers to study the trend of 5G deployment across the world.
The lawmakers took the decision when they considered and passed the report of its Joint Committee on Science and Technology, ICT, Cyber Crime, and Primary Health, chaired by Senator Oluremi Tinubu.
Worried about the development, the Chairman of ALTON, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, said: “I do not know if the statement credited to the Senate was issued to the telecoms industry regulator, the NCC, or to MNOs, or it was issued as a public discourse, but what I know for a fact is that Nigeria cannot be behind emerging technologies, the reason why Nigeria most embrace 5G technology just like other countries that have rolled out the technology.”
According to him, “The 5G technology we are talking about, and which has been explained before to all Nigerians, is a new layer of technology, built on top of fourth-generation technology, known as 4G technology. So there is really nothing new in terms of the perceived fears concerning public health and safety because it has been proven over and over again by international and local studies that there are no known health risks associated with 5G rollout.”
“The said the call for suspension of 5G rollout, coming from the Senate, could only delay its rollout, but cannot stop it, adding that NCC as a regulator, has enough reports to convince the public that it is safe to roll out 5G network across Nigeria.
“I know that the Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy has enough documents to show that 5G technology is the future technology that Nigerians must embrace without fear. NCC is the telecoms industry regulator and it is the responsibility of NCC to give Nigerians the true state of 5G network deployment. So information from the Senate, calling for the suspension of 5G network rollout, could be taken as advisory, since the final authority, in terms of public health and safety, lies in the industry regulator, who had in the past, came out to say that the World Health Organisation (WHO) has not found any public health implications on 5G rollout,” Adebayo told THISDAY during a telephone interview.
He further said Nigerians should know that because technology is evolving faster than everybody thought, 4G technology has become a technology of the past, while 5G technology is today’s technology and the technology of the future, and Nigeria cannot be behind the world as technology continues to evolve.
The NCC has had the test trial of 5G launch in Nigerian with one major telecoms operator, and since the trial test in 2019, there had been no reported cases of public health hazards linked to 5G rollout, Adebayo said.
Speaking about the need to adequately sensitise Nigerians on the 5G rollout, Adebayo said sensitisation of the public, remained key to the 5G rollout but insisted that NCC had released several documents on the global study of the perceived health implications in 5G rollout. He added that it was the duty of the NCC to carry out a study on the 5G rollout, and not the duty of the Senate.
The upper chamber had on May 5, 2020, mandated the joint committee to conduct investigations into the status of the 5G network in Nigeria and its technological impact on Nigerian citizens.
The Chairman of the joint committee, while presenting the report, said the overwhelming aggregate opinions from the majority of stakeholders was that it is appropriate for Nigeria to join the comity of nations that are engaged in the deployments of 5G for all its inherent gains.
The committee however urged the NCC to collaborate with the Mobile Network Operators, Federal Ministry of Health, Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Federal Ministry of Environment, and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), among others to locally conduct a scientific experimental study over a period of about six months to ascertain if a correlation exists between 5G networks and public health.
