The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami says the planned deployment of 5G network by MTN Nigeria and Mafab Communications Limited, will create new opportunities for robust economic growth in Nigeria.
He urged Nigerians to embrace the 5G technology when rolled out, in order to benefit from the many benefits associated with 5G rollout.
Pantami stated this during a Policy Forum on 5G Deployment in Nigeria, organised by Policy implementation Assisted Forum (PIAFo) in Lagos. Pantami who was represented at the forum by the Head of Spectrum Administration Department, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Abraham Oshadami, said among other benefits, 5G rollout would create new opportunities for growth in the Nigerian economy, and it would be achieved by enabling dynamic business models and opening new opportunities and markets.
He said it would also open up tremendous improvements in interpersonal communications with several innovations and services, as well as initiate several new changes in mobile connectivity with an enormous capacity to boost productivity and grow the economy.
Subscribers Groan as Telecoms Operators Begin Deactivation of SIM Cards Not Linked to NIN
Meanwhile, about 37 million telecoms subscribers across networks have been affected by the recent order given to telecoms operators to deactivate all Subscriber Identification Module (SIM cards) that were not linked to the National Identification Number (NIN).
The affected subscribers are worried that they could not make outgoing calls from their SIM cards, and have become incommunicado because their SIM cards have been deactivated, following the directive from the federal government to deactivate all unlinked SIM cards.
According to statistics obtained by THISDAY from the website of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the telecoms industry regulator, Nigeria has a total of 198,127,431 active subscriber lines across network as at February this year, but the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami, who gave the order to deactivate all unlinked SIM cards, said before the order was given few day ago, 125 million subscribers have had their NINs submitted for immediate linkage, verification and authentication.
