Federal Government To Deploy 5G Network Soon, Says Pantami

The federal government says it will soon deploy 5G network in the country to increase connectivity.

Isa Pantami, minister of communications and digital economy, disclosed this in Abuja when he featured on a special News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) interview programme.

Pantami said that the decision to deploy the 5G network followed an outcome of thorough investigations, research and trial absolving it of posing security or health threat.

He explained that the work on the national policy on 5G stands at 95 percent done and will be presented to the federal executive council (FEC) in due course.

Pantami, who said that the primary concern of government was to ensure security and welfare of Nigerians in their utilisation of services in the telecommunications sector, blamed the delay in the deployment of the 5G network on conspiracy theories.

A fact check on the rumours that COVID-19 was associated with the deployment of the 5G communications network.

“Our government is a listening one; so we listen to constructive criticisms, respect it and appreciate it and at least we value it,” he said.

“We’d reached advanced stage of 5G, then, an issue came up that 5G was related to COVID-19; many people including the educated ones started circulating it without verification.

“Naturally, people are a bit scared and sceptical about technology.

“So we gave enough time to do more consultation, creating awareness in local languages so as to engage our citizens to address all the challenges.

“We set up a technical team that accommodated security, health and environmental institutions and the public sector so that we can be on the same page.

“I want to give you the assurance that 5G communication network is in the pipeline.”

Pantami said that the ministry had started discussions with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) concerning spectrum for commercial purposes.