Prospective subscribers to the Fifth Generation (5G) technology, billed for roll-out before the end of the first quarter, have been notified to be ready to pay more for services provided on the network by mobile network operators (MNOs).
An expert, Olusola Teniola, who spoke on the sidelines of a forum convened to review the Information Memorandum (IM) for the deployment of 5G, said: “It is interesting how enthusiastic people are about 5G. With 3G and 4G, complaints of data depletion are all over the place. The NCC must be ready to attend to the barrage of complaints from subscribers because 5G will come at a premium cost.”
The Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Ibrahim Pantami, said 5G will be approximately 20 times faster than 4G, adding that it will open several opportunities for businesses due to the quality of the service while allowing several devices to get connected implying, that “everything” will be connected.
Teniola said because of the cost factor, if 5G is rolled out this year as planned, it will be in areas where customers will be able to afford its cost.
He said aside the high cost of the 3.5gigahertz (GHz) spectrum, which will be used to roll out the services, the cost of devices, punitive business environment and cost of foreign exchange (forex) to purchase 5G equipment will inevitably push up the end users’ tariffs.
He added: “If they are going to roll out 5G this year, they are going to roll out where it is affordable because even right now, as we look at the 4G, 3G tariffs, the data plans are geared towards those that can use more data. If that is the case, the more money you have, the more money you can spend, and if you can spend more, the operators will give you a deal that will enable you to access more data for the types of app you want to run. So anywhere in the world, that is the way it works, it’s not only in Nigeria.
“So, in short, it is going to be very unlikely that anyone that can spend a huge amount of money on 3.5GHz spectrum which at the moment and until they pay is $273million, just think about that $273million for spectrum for 10 years, that is $3.7million every year, that is for spectrum alone.’’