The Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has said that the 5th generation mobile network, 5G, is meant to deliver higher data speeds, ultra-low latency, more reliability, massive network capacity, increased availability, and more uniform user experience to more users.
In a statement made available to Realnews, the NCC noted that 5G is a new global wireless standard after 1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G networks. It stated that 5G enables a new kind of network that is designed to connect virtually everyone and everything together, including machines, objects and devices.
“5G has the potential to provide 20X faster data speeds and carries a massive amount of data for a large number of simultaneous users. So users in high-density areas – like airports, stadiums or urban areas – can still experience the fast speeds and low latency of 5G service.
“As the world replaces more and more household items with ‘smart devices’ that connect to the internet, also known as the Internet of Things, this network capacity will be critical. 5G will potentially be able to handle more than 2.5 million connected devices per square mile. 5G is a transformational change from 4G.
“5G will enhance technological development because of the extremely fast transfer rate of large quantities of data. Overall, it enables interconnected devices for instant communication. This is a new connected world of ‘Smart cities’ made possible by 5G networks.
“5G is extremely fast: it supports data transfer rates of up to 20Gbit/s, if supported by robust fibre infrastructure. On top of that, wireless data delays drop to one millisecond. This opens up the potential for multiple driverless cars, where large quantities of potentially lifesaving data have to be transferred almost instantaneously,” it said.
According to NCC, 5G network is designed to carry data up to 10 times faster than 4G networks. It noted that this means HD movies can be downloaded in seconds. “5G tops out at 10 gigabits per second (Gbps). 5G is 10 to x100 faster than 4G. The use of shorter frequencies (millimeter waves between 30GHz and 300GHz) for 5G networks is the reason why 5G is so fast.”
