Executive Vice Chairman Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC Prof. Umar Danbatta has said that with the advent of 5G technology, the world will witness another dimension in the internet of things, IoT Ecosystem.
Danbatta made the disclosure at the Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum on Emerging Technologies held in Lagos, stating that 5G technologies is going to enable Massive Machine Type Communication, mMTC.
Danbatta also revealed that the GSM Association commonly referred to as GSMA Intelligence report has predicted that IoT connections will reach almost 25 billion globally by 2025.
He said: “With this pace of growth, it has become imperative to prepare for the Regulation of the important technology.
Danbatta said the telecommunications industry is a dynamic industry, therefore, to keep abreast with developments in the industry, the contributions from all stakeholders are critical, adding that the forum was for the stakeholders to come and constructively exchange ideas and views on the Spectrum and regulatory requirement of Internet of Things.
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He however explained that “Internet of Things (IoT) is a system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines, objects, animals or people that are provided with unique identifiers and the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring any human intervention (human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction).”
He said IoT has become indispensable to certain sectors of the national life because it is increasingly becoming important in the scheme of activities across most sectors of the economy which includes Education, Security, Military, Commerce, Governance, Inventory Management, Health, Surveillance, Smart City Initiatives among others.
Earlier in his submission, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy Prof Isa Pantami had explained the reason federal government mulls regulation of the IOT ecosystem, saying without it, tons of data to be generated from IoT may be abused.
According to Pantami, “if there is no conscious regulatory approach, the essence of generating data will be lost. That is why we need a regulatory framework for IoT ecosystem in Nigeria. By 2025, the exponential data already generated today will be tripled if not quadrupled. Government owes it a duty to ensure the privacy of data is maintained” he said.
