By Pascal Oparada
Social Media/Tech Reporter
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Nigeria is still battling to get it right with its 4G architecture.
This is even as the advanced world is waiting with bated breath for the arrival of 5G.
What 5G brings Vs what 4G brought
What 5G will bring will leave 4G users green with envy. According to a Bloomberg report, 5G is coming with speed 100 times that of 4G.
It promises a world of innovations to mobile services the same way cable transformed television many generations ago with multiple channels.
5G would allow consumers to download full length, high definition movie in a matter of seconds. It will increase total bandwidth, which will be needed to accommodate the internet of things (IoT) from smartphones, smart refrigerators, smart TVs to traffic lights and dog collars which would be sending and receiving data, the report said.
While today’s wireless systems connect a few devices like our phones and computers, 5G promises a radio wave-rich environment where billions of chips, sensors, cameras, appliances and electronics around us will be interconnected, pinging information back and forth.
According to Ericsson AB, the Swedish maker of wireless networks, by 2024 the amount of data carried by mobile networks will be five times greater than it is today and 5G networks will cover more than 40 per cent of the world’s population. It estimates that more than 22 billion gadgets will be connected to the internet of things by 2024.
5G will succeed 4G which has been in use in many countries and which Nigeria has been fighting to get right since its arrival in the country.
4G is ten times faster than 3G which is widely used in the country. Many telecom firms have been mouthing how great their 4G services are to the chagrin of consumers who struggle daily to use the service.
Consumers lament
A 4G user in Nigeria, Benny Fidelis, lamented that his experience is abysmal compared to the promise of his telco.
“My recent unbelievable struggles with 4G is a testament to how all our things here (in Nigeria) are fake,” he said in a Facebook post.
Many telcos say most of their Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards come configured to work in G4 enabled devices. Experience shows that is far from the truth.
“The moment I insert my 4G SIM into my phone, the phone becomes unbelievably hot. At that moment, I cannot use the internet on my phone. Sometimes, my phone begins to cease,” Joyce Oke told TheNiche.
A staff of 9Mobile who does not want her name mentioned because she is not authorised to speak on the matter, told TheNiche that all their SIMs either come as 4G or have been configured to work in a 4G device.
“But most of our subscribers complain that their 4G experience is terrible. Some say their phones sometimes stop working completely,” she said.
Infrastructure deficit
Behind 4G performance woes in Nigeria is the problem of infrastructure. Many telcos are running their 4G architecture on old, worn out 3G infrastructure.
Fibre optics that are currently in use in Nigeria were laid specifically for 3G, Sunday Ogidan, a staff of MainOne, a leading provider of telecom services and network solutions in West Africa, said.
“How do you expect 4G to work with a 3G fibre optics,” Ogidan said.
“The telcos may be deceiving their subscribers with the promise of better performance when they know the infrastructure do not support their service,” he said.
Ogidan said that only recently few telcos in Nigeria started laying fibre optics for 4G architecture but are far from covering the length and breadth of the country as per their claims.
He said the only way Nigeria can enhance their 4G experience is to allow states to make it easier for telcos to apply and process “right of way” which has continued to be problematic and bureaucratic.
“To get the right of way to lay critical infrastructure necessary for a seamless 4G experience in Nigeria is herculean. The amount of palm greasing going in most states parastatal giving approvals is alarming. It discourages investment in critical infrastructure,” he said.
So, while 5G is not yet commercially available, although in South Korea, Samsung and TK Telecom has started selling 5G enabled phones, just like AT&T Inc started a 5G service in December that serves hot-spot devices, Nigerians are begging to have optimal 4G experience before the arrival of its successor 5G.