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Lolia Emorpkore with Executive Commissioner Stakeholder
Engagement Okey Itanyi
and Head Spectrum at NCC Austin Nwawunne
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These operators are namely Mobitel,
Direct-On Pc and SpectraNet and made their position known at the one-day
stakeholders’ forum
on 2.3GHz band organized by NCC with the theme: Best Option for Licensing the
remaining slots in the 2.3GH band.
Speaking on behalf of the trio in a
joint paper presented by the chief operating officer of SpectraNet, Mr. Atul
Ojha, at the forum, they objected to licensing new operator on this band with
30 Mega Hertz (MHz), while the existing operators wallow in 20 MHz.
They also described the proposed
plan as not advisable for enthronement of competitive market.
The paper entitled ‘Operators View Point on
2.3GHz Spectrum Allocations and Challenges’ they also said that in their views “fresh
auction of 30 MHz is not advisable.”
They postulated that using
10 MHz to provide for 5 Guard bands has no meaning as each Guard band would be
2 MHz, adding that end of 2.3 GHz band would require larger Guard band due to
uncontrolled emissions in 2.4 GHz.
In addition, they argued
that globally wireline networks provide primary network reach and wireless as
secondary reach, lamenting that in Nigeria, no significant primary wireline
network exist, and hence, wireless becomes the primary network with extra
capacity requirement.
“In Nigeria, to roll out advance Wireless Network larger
spectrum is basic need,” they pointed out.
They maintained that by increasing the number of
operators in last mile access network, that is 2.3GHz, would not enhance the
data penetration, unless other dominant cost head are addressed or else last
mile operator failure remains inevitable.
For the chief executive officer, Mobitel, Mr. Johnson
Salako, told DigitalSENSE
Business News all they were asking for is a level playing ground to enable
existing operators on that band to survive, adding that its unfair for existing
operators to have 20 MHz while the new one now has 30 MHz, hence such
proposition is ill-advised.
In his welcome remark, the Head, Spectrum Management at
NCC, Engr. Augustine Nwawunne, said the essence is truly engage stakeholders on
the way forward devoid of technicalities and urged participants to open the
floor for better discussions.
In his keynote
to the occasion, the Executive Vice Chairman (EVC), NCC, Dr. Eugene Juwah, who
was represented by the Executive Commissioner, Stakeholders Engagement, Hon.
Okey Itanyi, said the objective of the forum was in line with the Commission’s
policy of participatory regulation amongst other things to provide an avenue
for stakeholders and users of the 2.3 GHz band to discuss, technically
criticize, exchange ideas and proffer options that will help the Commission in
arriving at a decision on the further licensing of the remaining 40 MHz bandwidth
in the band for the benefit of all Nigerians.
“This forum is
very remarkable as we have in our midst highly respected presenters with
decades of practical experience at their disposal to deliberate on options and challenges
as it relates to further licensing of the band,” he said.
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| Austin from NCC speaking, while Mr Atul Ojha behind ready for the forum. Photo DSBN |
With global
development centred on availability of broadband services, the Commission, he said,
is on a regular basis inundated with several requests for frequencies to
deliver the services.
“This has posed
severe challenges as the frequencies sought for are scarce,” he said,
According to
him, in no distant future, the industry predicts the development and indeed deployment of more spectral
efficient technologies that would be able to deliver more with less frequency spectrum.
Also, he said that improvement on interference mitigation techniques would
pave way for a harmonious and interference free coexistence, as they look
forward to being part of the future in the management
and utilization of this resource in line with global best practices.
Remmy Nweke/DSBNews
... Making SENSE of digital revolution!
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