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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is considering another frequency licensing in the 70/80GHz spectrum band. The spectrum is yet to be fully explored and exploited in Nigeria.
At a one day stakeholder’s consultative forum on the planning and licensing of the spectrum band in Lagos, the executive vice-chairman of NCC, Dr Eugene Juwah said the commission invited industry stakeholders, service providers, investors, financiers, VAS providers and other telecom experts to chart the way forward for the licensing of service providers in this 70/80GHz spectrum band within the Nigerian telecom industry.
“We have taken a look at this spectrum and the several licensing models and pricing schemes that are available for our consideration but we believe that inputs from the diverse segments of the industry would enrich our decisions in these directions,” he said.
He added that the effective and efficient sharing or allocation of the radio spectrum in the 70/80GHz band for commercial use will boost Nigeria’s zeal to achieve ubiquitous broadband availability across the country.
He assured that when the 70/80GHz spectrum band is finally licensed, Nigeria will be able to address the growing demands by operators for data centric, high speed and high capacity links for metropolitan environment, as it is a replica of fibre in the air.
In addition, it will assist the NCC’s drive for national Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) initiative, reduce the pressure and management challenges experienced with the traditional microwave frequency bands, ensure broadband services become more accessible and pervasive with quality that is desirable and ensure operational flexibility and robustness that would enhance available infrastructure and resources in the industry.
Also speaking, the director, Spectrum Allocation at NCC, Engr. A.K. Nwaulune said the spectrum will help operators to backup data and build a robust broadband capacity for them as well as the end users. “The 70/80GHz spectrum band will be used to address last mile challenges and can be used to boost enterprise application,” he added.
NCC stressed that the purpose of the licensing was in line with global best practices, saying the advances in mobile broadband, which has changed consumer habits with mobile web surfing, emailing and other advanced data services becoming routine. The commission believes that mobile broadband is leading to a dramatic exponential increase in the traffic/data capacity
