ITU Telecom World 2017: Challenging Nigeria on the 5G evolution

The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Telecom World 2017 wrapped up its four days of exchanges on opportunities and risks stemming from the emergence of new technologies and in particular on the development of 5G network. Thousands of ICT ministers, government officials and business leaders visited the southern port city of Busan, South Korea, to attend the event.

At this year’s Telecom World event, the fifth-generation (5G) network took centre stage, as global ICT businesses and government agencies were competitively preparing to launch the telecom technology, which is expected to generate financial opportunities and create new industries.

To iron out 5G issues faced by governments and private businesses, ICT experts said all players in the ICT sector should make concerted efforts.

“The 5G revolution is not just an evolution, it is sort of a collaboration of multiple technologies,” said Donna Bethea Murphy, senior vice president of British satellite telecommunications company, Inmarsat, at a discussion session held under the theme of “the 5G opportunity.”

She emphasised the importance of the integration of new and old business models, technologies and businesses to “make a successful revolution” in the upcoming 5G era.

While many countries, especially developed countries are gearing up for the 5G evolution, unfortunately, many African countries, including Nigeria, are just embracing 4G, so many years after the advent of 3G.

Nigeria for instance only embraced 4G late last year and even at that, many Nigerians still prefer the 3G as few could cope with the demands of 4G. 4G is faster than 3G, and 5G will be faster than 4G – but there’s more to it than that.

5G doesn’t exist yet. So, where will Nigeria be few years to come in terms of 5G. According to Jo Best of Tech Republic, it will be “months, likely years” before the standard is properly defined. She likens it to trying to predict the impact of the iPhone five years before it was launched.

“No one foresaw its arrival, or how the market would change in response to it, and how we’d end up where we are now,” she wrote. “We’re facing the same situation again: trying (to) imagine how the mobile world will look 10 years from now and design a standard to fit it,” she said.

But she added that that hasn’t stopped people from speculating, of course, or governments and companies from investing billions of dollars in its development. The question therefore is what is Nigeria doing to catch up after lagging behind in the switch to 4G? Time will tell.

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