The Director-General of the Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA), Capt Musa Nuhu has put to rest, fears that the proposed rollout of the 5G network may interfere with communications with aircraft.
Recently, major international airlines have started scrambling to modify or cancel flights to the United States amid uncertainty about potential interference between new 5G cell phone services and critical airplane technologies.
Notwithstanding, 40 countries are already safely using these and similar radio waves for 5G and other wireless services, at similar power levels. Even at that, there still exists a lot of confusion about 5G, air traffic, and safety.
But speaking to newsmen at the weekend, Capt Nuhu clarified that it is not completely true that the 5G network has been suspended in the United States, rather it was just in some of the places close to a few of the airports within some radius that 5G was suspended in order to fully understand what is happening.
According to Capt Nuhu, the concern raised is about interference with aircraft that are being controlled to land.
He stated that, a critical component called radio altimeter; the spectrum by which this equipment operates is close to that of the 5G.
“So, they are afraid of interference from the radio altimeter and giving aircraft erroneous indication and during aircraft approach landing when they are about 2,500ft or so above the ground. Usually, it is for flights that are put to land”, Nuhu explained.
Relating the situation to Nigeria, he added “For us in Nigeria, we don’t have auto-landing authorisation, our flights don’t do auto-landing. So, for now, it is of no concern to us, but we are still monitoring the situation, see the development if there are issues that might affect us, then, we will take the necessary action.
Corroborating, Capt Nuhu, Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of NCC, Professor Umar Garba Danbatta had earlier allayed fears of both the health, safety and environmental impact of the 5G network.
Prof Danbatta stated that with all available information, nothing has been able to show that masts are dangerous to the public health.
In his presentation on the topic titled: “Setting The Stage for 5G Journey; Requirements, Deployment and Challenges, the EVC who was represented by Head, Fixed Network and Converged Services Unit of NCC, Mr Anthony Ikemefuna
stated that, if masts are dangerous to health, most Nigerians would have been adversely affected healthwise right from the days of 1G, 2G 3G networks, stressing that the radiation from the “090” network used in the late 80s, were even much more than what we have today.
Danbatta therefore, averred that, it is not true that 5G is the cause of the coronavirus pandemic as rumoured in some quarters.
Explaining further on the impact of 5G network on health, the EVC said “there are no specifically proven evidence of any negative impact on human health associated with radiation from mobile networks, including 5G”.
“The following organisations: World Health Organisation (WHO), UK Advisory Group and Non-ionising Radiation (AGNIR), The Institute for Engineering and Technology (IET), International Commission for Non-ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIP) were very clear to the effect that radiation from mobile networks and devices including 5G has no known or scientifically proven negative health impact”, he emphasised.
Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has reiterated it is committed for the 5G rollout, stating that the stage is set for the mobile network system which will commence in 2022.
