An Overview of the Deployment and Management of 5th Generation (5G) Wireless Network in Nigeria

The purpose of this paper is to give a preview into the deployment and management of 5th Generation (5G) wireless network in Nigeria thereby addressing technical challenges of 5G deployment, assisting in the establishment of a 5G ecosystem, ensuring cost-effective implementation, management, and deployment in a timely manner in Nigeria. Data forecasting, and cost analysis were adopted for this study as the preferred tool to be used. It involved studying various network business deployment models, market demand and subscriber’s growth, and the cost for deploying 5G network equipment’s. The result showed that Infrastructure sharing based on Technology or based on Business/ownership are the preferred method for deployment cost reduction. Results obtained for subscriber’s growth forecast using optimistic, normal, and pessimistic scenarios are 171.52%, 163.35%, 155.19% respectively for the next 10 years. Also, deployment cost was observed to varies with population density and projected coverage area as for the case of Port Harcourt and Ahoada which are 12,069,144,108 dollars and 143,680,287 dollars, respectively. This work will contribute to the knowledge of Nigeria government in the Telecommunication sector, network operators to fast forward the rollout of 5G network in Nigeria and its management to reduced cost for the benefit of the Nigeria user. Also, this study adds to the body of knowledge by addressing technical issues, contributing to the formation of a 5G ecosystem, and maintaining cost-effective and speedy rollout of the 5G network across the country.