Pantami Says 5G Will Curb Mobile Network Outage From January 2022
Having ordered the full deployment of the new 5G technology, Isa Pantami, Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, says the new network will from January 2022 curb mobile networks’ outages that have affected telecom service across the country.
The four mobile network operators in the country, MTN, Globacom, Airtel and 9Mobile had between January and July 2021 reported about 16,000 outages across the over 50,000 telecommunication sites across the country, which are difficult to supervise manually except through deployment of modern technology.
The outages were due to fibre cuts, access denial and theft leading to service disruption in the affected areas
The minister Thursday in Maiduguri at a Town Hall Meeting to address vandalism of power and telecommunications infrastructure said the new technology would boost surveillance against criminal elements that are vandalising public infrastructure across the country, while other measures would to deal with the arsonists will be put in place.
Pantami, who was represented by Ubale Maska, Commissioner for Technical Services, Nigeria Communication Commission, said there were currently 50,000 sites in the country and noted that protection of these critical infrastructural facilities was key to the nation’s security, economic vitality, public health and safety.
He decried the situation where telecoms installations that were destroyed in the attacks by terrorists, had not been replaced as a result of the lingering insecurity and tensions in parts of the North East, pointing out the way forward, is continuous stakeholders buying-in and synergy among security forces.
He also urged the National Assembly to expedite the passage of the Critical Infrastructure Protection Bill for onward submission to the President for assent.
