COVID-19: NiRA joins NCC, operators to exonerate 5G 

By Omobayo Azeez

Nigeria Internet Registration Association (NiRA) has defended 5G mobile connectivity technology against allegations and fears is linked somewhat to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Muhammed Rudman, president of the association corroborated the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) and telecoms operators in the country to debunk conspiracy theories and controversial unscientific assumptions build around  the 5G technology.

The association asserted that 5G is just an advancement on today’s 4G technology, designed to transform the world positively.

Earlier, the NCC Henry Nkemadu, its director, public affairs, had informed Nigerians that there is currently no deployment of 5G in Nigeria, stressing also that the new technology neither causes Coronavirus nor any other such health hazards.

NiRA explained that “5G is the next generation of mobile broadband. It will provide exponential speed, hence faster downloads and uploads. It will also drastically decrease latency which refers to the time it takes for devices to communicate with wireless connections.

“Although work on mobile 5G has been on for nearly 10 years, it only started being rolled out to a few cities worldwide last year. A little bit of history is helpful to understand just how much of a difference 5G will bring to the world of mobile technology.

“1G was the first generation of cell phone technology, which was analogue, delivered on phones which had poor voice quality and short battery life. 2G brought with it a new set of standards governing wireless telephone calls. It was digital, an improvement which allowed cellular phones to provide data along with voice.

“Fundamental services such as SMS, roaming, conference calls and real-time billing were introduced with 2G.

“The maximum speed of 2G is 50Kbps on General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) or 1 Mbps with Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE).

“The next generation, 3G, made it possible to surf the net directly on our mobile phones, opening up web browsing, video downloading, and picture sharing to mention a few. True 3G has maximum speeds of up to 21.6 Mbps.

“The fourth generation, 4G, was introduced to deliver speeds that enabled video streaming and support a large ecosystem of applications which require sustained, reliable connectivity. The purpose of 4G was to provide high speed, high quality and high capacity to users. It also improved security and reduced the cost of voice and data services. 4G, the fourth generation, is the bedrock of gaming services, high-definition mobile TV, video conferencing and cloud computing.

“It is hoped that the world will recognise that 5G broadband will bring great development and it will ensure that humanity can unfold its greatest potential until now, preparing us for innovation such as we had hitherto only dreamed about”, the NiRA message concludes.