Tizeti Is Conducting Research On A Next-generation Technology That Could Bring 5G Speeds To Nigeria
Tizeti is conducting research on a next-generation technology that could bring 5G speeds to Nigeria
If you are in Nigeria and have access to a smartphone, let us conduct a small test. Spoiler Alert: We're taking a page from Tizeti's playbook, so make a concerted effort to keep up.
Navigate to Speedtest.net in your browser and wait a few seconds for it to load.
Which speed do you see? 500 kbps? We apologize for this. 2 Megabits per second? To be honest, it's pretty standard. 50 megabits per second? Simply put, you are the boss. 100 megabits per second? Speak the truth; you are not in Nigeria.
Whichever results you obtain, they will almost certainly pale in comparison to what Tizeti has in store.
According to recent updates, the telecom startup is currently testing next-generation WiFi technology in Nigeria. If successful, the technology could deliver Internet speeds of up to 1Gbps — more than 30 times the average Internet speed in the country.
This means that if you subscribe to one gigabyte of data, you will exhaust it in less than a second.
Kendall Ananyi, Tizeti's CEO, and Ikenna Uche, Tizeti's Chief Technology Officer, announced this at Tizeti's NextGen event on Wednesday, August 11, 2021. The event featured speakers from startups such as Kudi and Aella Credit, as well as industry titans such as Nokia and MainOne.
According to reports, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has given Tizeti permission to test the new technology, which will be available to its customers throughout the country.
What is this revolutionary new technology?
In a nutshell, WiGig or 60 GHz WiFi. According to Ananyi, the new speeds will be enabled by the WiGig infrastructure, also known as 60 GHz Wi-Fi, which is a next-generation technology on par with 5G.
Currently, the majority of WiFi devices in homes and offices (routers and transmitters) operate at 2.4 GHz, with the fastest reaching up to 7 GHz.
Naturally, because a large number of Internet service providers transmit on these lower frequencies globally, they are more congested. The WiGig standard enables WiFi devices (routers) to operate on the 60GHz frequency band, which is significantly less congested and capable of transmitting data at multi-gigabit per second rates.
Technical specifics
The WiGig frequency is part of the millimetre-wave (mmWave) spectrum, which spans the range from 30 to 300 GHz. It is located between microwave (300 Mhz and 30 GHz) and infrared frequencies (300 GHz to 400 THz).
The mmWave technology is not without flaws, as its signals are easily interfered with by rain, humidity, and other environmental factors. As a result, mmWave signals have a maximum range of a few kilometers.
Now, let's discuss some real-world use cases. Radio astronomy, remote sensing, automotive radars, military applications, imaging, and security screening all utilize the mmWave.
This frequency enables silky smooth, high-resolution video streaming/broadcasting, autonomous vehicles, the Internet of Things (IoT), and a variety of other applications in daily life. As you may have guessed, this technology is at the heart of the high-end 5G network.
What is the significance of the name?
WiGig is an acronym for Wireless Gigabit Alliance, a trade association founded in 2007 by Ali Sadri, Intel's Senior Director for mmWave Advanced Technology Development and Standards. He later recruited members of the company's board of directors from leading global companies such as Apple, Huawei, Microsoft, Sony, Dell, Qualcomm, and Toshiba, among others.
Their goal was to create wirelessly connected home entertainment and office devices such as PCs, tablets, smartphones, televisions, and music systems.
The WiGig was not certified at the time, but it collaborated with the Wi-Fi Alliance — the organization that owns the Wi-Fi trademark — to develop technology to mitigate its shortcomings. The collaboration enabled the WiGig range to be extended to cover entire homes at slower speeds.
The WiGig Alliance merged with the Wi-Fi Alliance in 2013, but the 60 GHz WiGig standard retained the name.
Tizeti's chief technology officer, Uche, says the company is bringing the speeds and benefits of 5G technology to Nigeria ahead of its official launch.
Why is this significant?
Increases in Nigeria's Internet speed must be proportional to the country's growing digital economy and growing demand for Internet services.
Nigeria has a 73 percent Internet penetration rate, with up to 154 million Internet subscriptions, according to Internet World's Stats' December 2020 report.
Internet World's Stats calculates the number of Internet subscriptions per 100,000 people in each country. Due to the fact that an individual may own multiple Internet devices, this does not always represent an accurate count of unique Internet users in a country.
Nonetheless, Uche confirms a widely held belief that Internet users increased in Nigeria during the lockdown.
He maintains that prior to the lockdown, Tizeti could only offer its customers 2 to 5 megabits per second (Mbps), but the pandemic's onset forced it to upgrade its overall infrastructure, more than doubling its Internet speed to 10 to 20 Mbps.
The company announced last year that it had delivered 100 terabytes of data over six years, but has added up to 80 terabytes in just one year.
However, Internet speeds in Nigeria are woefully inadequate, made all the more so by rising demand.
Nigeria's average Internet speed, according to Speedtest's Global Index, is 23.61 Mbps, ranking it 96th globally and 8th in Africa.
How quickly might this become available?
According to Ananyi, the technology should be commercially available to Nigerians by November 2021, pending the completion of ongoing tests and demonstrations.
This means that Nigerians in Lagos, Ogun, Rivers, and Edo States — all of which have a significant Tizeti presence — will have access to it once it goes live. Additionally, the company will expand to Abuja, Ibadan, Kaduna, Kano, Warri/Asaba, Eket/Uyo, Onitsha, Aba, and Enugu.
Who can gain access to it?
According to Ananyi, Tizeti will have up to two million users across Nigeria and Ghana by August 2021, all of whom will have access to the new technology.
What will the cost be?
At the time of writing, Tizeti had not disclosed the price of the WiGig. You can view their current pricing here and adjust your expectations accordingly.
Ananyi insists on maintaining affordable prices, which aligns with the company's vision of providing fast, affordable, and reliable unlimited Internet.
What else has Tizeti accomplished?
Tizeti has grown steadily since its inception in 2014 as Wifi.com.ng, owing to its unique approach to operations. While telecom operators have struggled with issues such as epileptic power, Tizeti powers the majority of its towers with solar energy.
In 2017, the company was accepted into the US-based accelerator Y Combinator and shortly thereafter raised a $2.1 million seed round. Then came Facebook's launch of Express Wi-Fi, an Internet service aimed at Nigeria's low-income earners.
It raised a $3 million Series A round in 2018 to fund international expansion. Tizeti claims to have over 10,000 voice lines and two million Internet users across four Nigerian states and Accra, Ghana.
It has also partnered with financial services provider Kudi to enable people to pay for Tizeti packages in cash through thousands of agents across the country. Additionally, there is Aella Credit, a digital lending platform where individuals can purchase data now and pay later.
While the NCC's 5G auction appears to be months away, Tizeti's next-generation technology may just open the floodgates for additional Internet innovators in Nigeria. And that can only be a positive development.
