President of the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Tony Emoekpere, has attributed the slow penetration rate of the fourth generation (4G) and fifth generation (5G) technologies, to weak investment and exorbitant cost of acquiring smartphones, especially the 4G and 5G enabled smartphones.
Emoekpere who corroborated the views of the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Aminu Maida, said he totally agreed with Maida, who had earlier said that the bulk of connectivity in the telecoms sector hovered around 2G technology, with little penetration and connectivity across the 4G and 5G technology networks.
Emoekpere, however, said weak investment in the telecoms sector and the high cost of 4G and 5G-enabled smartphones were responsible for the slow rate of 4G and 5G connections across networks in Nigeria.
Both Maida and Emoekpere spoke at a reception dinner for Maida, organised by ATCON in Lagos. According to Maida, “The telecoms industry challenges are huge, but the NCC is addressing them while looking at the right policies to ensure sustainability for the industry that has done so well for the country.”