NCC to licence 38 GHz to reduce pressure on existing microwave frequency
NAN-H-86
Licence
By Constance Athekame
Abuja, Nov. 9, 2016 (NAN) The Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) says it will licence the 38 gigahertz bands (GHz) to reduce pressure on the existing lower microwave frequency bands and increase broadband across the country.
The gigahertz, abbreviated GHz, is a unit of alternating current (AC) or electromagnetic (EM) wave frequency equal to one thousand million hertz (1,000,000,000 Hz).
Prof. Umar Dambatta, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, said this on Wednesday in Abuja, while delivering a lecture on the “National Broadband Plan as a Catalyst for Social and Economic Transformation: the NCC Mandate”.
The 2016 lecture was delivered at the Nigerian Academy.
“The commission plans to licence the 38 GHz (range 37-39.5 GHz) and 42 GHz (range 40.5-43.5GHz) bands.
“Both bands are suitable for short hop (1-5km) and point to point terrestrial links.
“The bands also support 3G/4G/LTE backhaul and a high degree of frequency re-use due to the high directivity of their antennas.
“The term 4G LTE is really two terms. 4G means the fourth generation of data technology for cellular networks ̶ following 3G, the third generation.
“LTE stands for Long Term Evolution and is short for a very technical process for high-speed data for phones and other mobile devices,” he said.
Dambatta also said that the commission was in the process of licensing priced regulated infrastructure companies that would be saddled with the task of bridging the gaps between national and planned fibre networks in Nigeria.
He said that Backbone Transmission Infrastructure, a Universal Service Provision Fund (USPF) project , was to connect the rural and semi-urban areas to the National Transmission Backbone Infrastructure through Optic Fibre Cable across the six geographical regions of the country.
The NCC boss said that so far, over 1000 km of Optic Fibre Cable (OFC) had been deployed.
“Provisional approval has been for the deployment of 4G LTE by NATCOM Development and Investment Limited, which made the first VoLTE called on February 2016.
“The commission has licensed six out of the 14 slots of 2.6GHz band to MTN, Nigeria. This band supports capacity spectrum for deployment of broadband services, especially in urban cities and 4G/LTE services.
“The commission has articulated a robust framework that will enable strategic and systematic licensing and deployment of broadband infrastructure across the country – The Open Access Model.
“It has established a broadband implementation and monitoring committee to give proper assessment on regular of broadband infrastructure deployment.
“Fine-tuned the infrastructure provision licenses awarded for the Lagos and North-Central zones.
“Advertised the bidding and selection process for interested service providers infrastructure companies (Infrancos) in the remaining five zones namely; North-East, North-West, South East, South –South and South West,” he said.
Danbatta said that the mandate of the Infracos was to provide and operate infrastructure services and to facilitate broadband penetration to provide and optimise access to and use of affordable fixed and mobile broadband everywhere in the country. (NAN)
COA/TO/MST
Edited by Tola Okinbaloye/Muhammad Suleiman Tola