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HomeNewsAfrica85% of base stations in Nigeria not 4G-enabled – Investigations

85% of base stations in Nigeria not 4G-enabled – Investigations

About 38,000 or 85 per cent of telecoms base stations so far deployed by telecoms companies in Nigeria are not Fourth Generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE)-enabled, New Telegraph investigations have revealed. According to findings, while there are about 45,000 base stations in the country, only 7,000 of them are 4G-enbaled to provide high speed Internet to consumers. Analysts consider the 7,000 4G sites grossly inadequate to provide ubiquitous top-notch Internet services in a country targeting 30 per cent broadband penetration by next year.

These developments are coming just as telecoms regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), declared that the country required 80,000 base stations to be able to provide effective telecoms services, especially voice. 4G LTE describes the technical process for high-speed data for phones and other mobile devices through wireless means. According to the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, Nigeria has less than 50,000 base stations.

Findings from industry licensees suggest the actual base stations is around 45,000, having grown from 30,000 two years ago. This newspaper’s investigation, however, showed that of the 45,000 base stations, only 7,000 of them, representing 15 per cent, are 4G-enabled, while the remaining 38,000 are either 2G/3G enabled.

About a year ago, there were just about 1,000 4G-enabled sites in the county, but this figure has grown to 7,000 currently, a development traceable to the efforts of the infrastructure deployment efforts and entry of 4G/ LTE telecom companies such as ntel, Smiles and Spectranet, among others.

These companies have focused on deployment of 4G data networks in order to gain their own share of data market where operators such as Globacom, MTN, Airtel and Etisalat have predominantly occupied with 2G/3G networks.

Findings also show that 4Genbaled sites are only concentrated in major cities such as Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt with Ibadan trailing. Chief Executive Officer, ntel, Mr. Kamr Abass, whose company is at the forefront of championing deployment of 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) Advanced across the country, confirmed the development in an interview in Lagos.

He said: “If you want to look back just a year ago and do reckoning of how many 4G there were, you will come to a number well under 1,000 sites. Fast forward a year, just one year, do another reckoning of the number of 4G sites – individual sites with 4G equipment stopped deployed –the number is in excess of 7,000 and that is seven-fold increase.

“The increase is good for Nigerian consumers, but also it is a direct response to our entry into the market because we are going after the very customers that the existing operators want to protect. Those on 3G would want an experience that is great and they would always get a better one on 4G networks, in particular on our 4G network.”

Abass also adduced reasons for the decline in the number of mobile subscribers from over 155 million to 154 million in recent times, especially on 2G networks in preference for 3G and most recently, 4G services.

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He said: “We know that the number of 2G customers is declining simply because 2G is simply a technology that has been overtaken by time. It has been overtaken by 3G and it has been overtaken, more recently, it has been overtaken by 4G.

We also know that 3G, as a standard, has always been a temperate, an interim standard. 2G was designed for a world in which you are dominated by voice. “It has to be extended to provide a level of data support but it has always been a limited data offering on 2G something called GPRS.

When 3G came along, the idea was to create a standard for mobile communication that allows data and voice to co-exist” But the reality, he said, is that what 4G is, is a pure data network in which data is its focus and it would accommodate voice in an Internet Protocol (IP) environment.Consequently, he said: “So, it is no surprise that you see customers migrating both from 3G, but also from 2G.

“In fact, it is the 2G standard that is declining, but 3G customers are growing still, but 2G numbers are declining and we believe that 3G is growing because of the wide range of devices and these are devices that are across quality and prices and that is the relevance that 3G has today.” He explained that there are more and more 4G devices every single day that are tremendously superior in terms of the quality of the experience for speed and latency.

“So, I have no doubt that, as coverage expands, which it is – our coverage now averages 70 per cent in each of the states in which we sell services – Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt – but secondly and more importantly is about the ability of all of these customers to be more productive when they use our services, when they use 4G services in general. “Overtime, that coverage and productivity opportunity combined with devices that are becoming lower in terms of cost, we will continue to see more settlements on 4G.

Towards 2020, industry is talking about a majority on mobile broadband first and within the mobile broadband, a majority of customers on the 4G standard.” Meanwhile, President of the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Mr. Olusola Teniola, has urged government, through the ministries of communication and finance, as well as telecoms regulator, to work with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) towards making foreign exchange (forex) accessible to the industry to allow them fast-track deployment of more 4G sites across the country.

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