MTN Says Its 5G Service is Now Live at 190 Sites Across Nigeria
- MTN Nigeria has rolled out 5G services in over 190 sites across Nigeria, especially in Lagos and Abuja
- A statement by the company said it will activate more sites by October as it meets the deadline set by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC)
- The company said only Android users can access the service while updates for iPhone and select Samsung users are at a later date
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MTN has said it switched on its highly awaited fifth generation (5G) internet service at 190 sites across Nigeria but mostly in Lagos and Abuja, with some users saying that internet speeds of up to 1.48 per second.
A BusinessDay report says that the launch of the 5G service happened on the same day the Nigeria Communications Commission announced the date of the official rollout of the service across the country.
Firm to add 600 more sites by October
Source: Getty Images
Reports say that by October, it is expected that MTN’s 5G will be operating at 500-600 sites in Nigeria.
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By October, it is expected that the MTN 5G service will be operating at 500-600 sites across the country.
Android Phones report improved speed
As of Wednesday, August 24, 2022, just a few phones accessed the 5G service due to the modification and software updates required to enable them to operate the 5G service.
Samsung and iPhone users may wait longer for the phone manufacturers to update the phones.
It is expected that Samsung might modify their phones for Nigerian users within six months, iPhone users will wait till October after Apple announces the release of its new upgrades by September.
As MTN began the gradual rollout of the 5G service, Mafab Communications and other winners of the 5G licences have been granted a five-month extension for their respective rollout in Nigeria.
The NCC initially announced August 24, 2022, as the rollout date for both Mafab and MTN after they emerged as winners of the 3.5GHz spectrum license in December last year and paid $550 million by February this year.
5G services across Africa
MTN Nigeria joins South Africa and Kenya as countries that have formally launched the 5G network in Africa. South Africa launched its 5G in March via MTN and Vodacom.
Kenya launched the service via Safaricom in April this year.
Kenya, on the other hand, started the deployment through Safaricom in April.
MTN pays N113.5 trillion for NCC’s 5G license fee before February 24 deadline
Legit.ng reported that MTN Nigeria has paid the N113.5 trillion license fee before the February 24 deadline given by the Nigeria Communications Commission elapsed.
NCC announced this on its website. According to the information, MTN and Mafab Communications were named among those that paid their license fees in full have taken possession of the license documents for the telecoms undertaking before reclassification of licenses into Class and Individual licenses.
The companies were given the slots for the 3.5 gigahertz (Ghz) Fifth generation (5G) technology spectrum after they won the auction held by the NCC.
Source: Legit.ng
