Airtel Nigeria, the leading telecommunication services provider in the country, has announced its plans to expand its 5G services to more states in Nigeria by 2024. The company launched its 5G services in June 2023, joining MTN Nigeria and Mafab Nigeria Communications Limited, who had acquired two available lots of 100 MHz TDD slots of the 3.5 GHz band in 2021.
According to Airtel Nigeria Director of Marketing, Ismail Adeshina, the company is investing heavily in 5G infrastructure, including towers, base stations, and spectrum licenses, to provide widespread 5G coverage across Nigeria. He also said that the company is collaborating with technology partners, device manufacturers, and local businesses to explore and develop innovative 5G use cases, such as IoT applications and smart city solutions.
He added that Airtel’s 5G deployment is prioritised based on used cases and the need, and that it will not affect any of its existing sites that offer 2G, 3G and 4G services.
Read also: MediaTek, Airtel Nigeria to improve mobile connectivity in Nigeria
Airtel’s business solutions for SMEs and government agencies
At a media roundtable last week, Ismail also spoke about Airtel’s business solutions for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and government agencies. He said that Airtel realised that the buying behaviour of the private sector is different from the public sector, so it created a special public sector event to showcase how various parastatals can be upgraded to become more reliable.
He said that Airtel had about 46 government agencies represented at the event, to show that it was listening to the needs of the government on the digitisation agenda. He also said that Airtel was providing data and cloud management solutions to both SMEs and government agencies through its platform called Airtel Business.
Airtel’s CSR activities
Airtel Nigeria’s Director of CSR and Corporate Communications, Femi Adeniran expressed gratitude to the media for participating at the roundtable and declared that the company would look forward to collaborations that will further strengthen the bond between the company and the media. He also highlighted some of Airtel’s corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities in areas such as education, health care, environment protection, youth empowerment, and sports development.
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Difference between 5G and 4G?
5G and 4G are two different generations of mobile network technology that offer wireless connectivity. 5G is the latest and most advanced form of wireless technology, while 4G is the previous and more widely used form. Here are some of the main differences between 5G and 4G:
Speed: 5G is much faster than 4G, with average download speeds of up to 1,000 Mbps, compared to 100 Mbps for 4G. This means that you can stream high-quality videos, play online games, and download large files in seconds with 5G. With 4G, you may experience buffering, lagging, or slow loading times.
Latency: Latency is the time it takes for data to travel from one point to another. The lower the latency, the better the performance and responsiveness of the network. 5G has much lower latency than 4G, with an average of 1 millisecond (ms), compared to 50 ms for 4G. This means that you can enjoy real-time communication, such as video calls, online gaming, and augmented reality with 5G. With 4G, you may experience delays, glitches, or disconnects.
Coverage: While both 5G and 4G have widespread coverage in most urban and suburban areas, 5G has the potential to provide even better coverage in rural and remote areas. This is because 5G uses a combination of radio waves and high-frequency millimeter waves (mmWave), which can penetrate buildings and obstacles better than lower-frequency radio waves used by 4G. This means that you can access the internet from anywhere with a clear line of sight with 5G. With 4G, you may have limited or no coverage in some areas.
Capacity: Capacity is the amount of data that can be transmitted or received by a network at a given time. The higher the capacity, the more devices that can connect to the network without compromising quality or speed. While both 5G and 4G have high capacities compared to previous generations of mobile networks, 5G has much higher capacities than 4G. This is because 5G can support more devices per unit area by using smaller antennas and more efficient spectrum allocation than 4G. This means that you can connect more devices to the internet at once with less congestion and interference with 5G. With 4G, you may experience network congestion or reduced performance when there are too many devices using the same frequency band.
These are some of the key differences between 5G and 4G networks that make them suitable for different purposes and applications. For example, if you want to watch high-definition videos on your smartphone without buffering or lagging, you may prefer using a device that supports both technologies. If you want to play online games with your friends or join a virtual reality session without any delays or glitches, you may prefer using a device that only supports one technology. If you want to stay connected with your family or work remotely from anywhere in your home or office without worrying about coverage or capacity issues, you may prefer using a device that supports both technologies.