Telecom
ITU Group Identifies Emerging Demands of ‘5G’ to Fuel ITU Standardization
The ITU-T Focus Group on network aspects of IMT-2020 (‘5G’) has received an extension to its lifetime, with a mandate to undertake in-depth studies into areas such as ‘network softwarization’ and slicing, emerging networking technologies, mobile backhaul and fronthaul, and end-to-end quality of service (QoS).
New Terms of Reference call for the group to engage open-source communities, influencing and taking advantage of their work by introducing them to the challenges that telecoms players must overcome in the development of the 5G ecosystem.
The Focus Group’s vision of the 5G era is of a highly dynamic information and communication technology (ICT) industry characterized by the entrance of new players to the networking business and new opportunities for telecoms companies.
The approach to year 2020 will play host to the emergence of new business models capitalizing on the transformative effects of softwarization and the associated convergence of open-source and telecoms communities.
The Focus Group was established in May 2015 to analyse how emerging 5G technologies will interact in future networks as a preliminary study into the networking innovations required to support the development of 5G systems.
The group took an ecosystem view of 5G research of development, identifying 85 ‘gaps’ in existing standards to be addressed in the approach to year 2020, and published the analysis in its Report.
“The analysis of emerging demands on networking carried out by ITU’s Standardization Sector is a valuable complement to the 5G standardization programme overseen by ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao.
“The road to the 5G era will see the ICT industry undergo significant transformation, and I am pleased to see ITU members creating an open platform to build greater cohesion in 5G innovation.”
The Focus Group’s Chairman Peter Ashwood-Smith outlines ambitions for 2016 in an interview. “Telecoms companies are calling for more softwarization,” says Ashwood-Smith, Huawei Senior Researcher and Technical Vice President. “Standards development for network-function virtualization and software-defined networking has received strong support from telecoms players hoping to introduce more softwarization and benefit from the use of general-purpose, ‘white-box’ hardware.”
In 2012, ITU established a programme on “International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) for 2020 and beyond (IMT-2020)”, providing the framework for 5G research and development worldwide. Recommendation ITU‑R M.2083‑0 defines the framework and overall objectives of the future development of IMT for 2020 and beyond. The ITU Radiocommunication Assembly held in Geneva, 26-30 October 2015, endorsed Resolutions ITU-R 65 and 56-2 that establish the roadmap for the development of 5G mobile and the term that will apply to it: “IMT-2020”..
ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) is coordinating the international standardization and identification of spectrum for 5G mobile development. ITU’s Standardization Sector (ITU-T) will play a similar convening role for the technologies and architectures of the wireline elements of 5G networks.
“The work of the ITU-T Focus Group on network aspects of IMT-2020 has met the high expectations of the ITU membership,” said François Rancy, Director of the ITU Radiocommunication Bureau.
“ITU’s Radiocommunication Sector welcomes the decision to extend the Focus Group’s lifetime, and we look forward to building on the results to emerge from the next phase of the group’s study.”
“5G research and development is being driven by a great number and diversity of industry players, research institutes and standardization bodies,” said Chaesub Lee, Director of the ITU Standardization Bureau.
“Our Focus Group on network aspects of IMT-2020 is analysing how all the elements of the 5G ecosystem will work in harmony, a welcome contribution to the multifaceted 5G preparations being undertaken worldwide.”
The Focus Group, which is open to participation by any interested party, has provided the launching point for ITU-T’s contribution to 5G standardization. The group’s initial findings have been presented to ITU’s standardization expert group responsible for future networks, cloud computing and network aspects of mobile communications, ITU-T Study Group 13.
In extending the Focus Group’s lifetime, ITU-T Study Group 13 granted the group a new mandate, outlined by the following Terms of Reference:
– Explore demonstrations or prototyping with other groups, notably the open-source community
– Enhance aspects of network softwarization and information-centric networking
– Continue to refine and develop the IMT-2020 network architecture
– Continue to study fixed-mobile convergence
– Continue to study network slicing for the fronthaul/backhaul network
– Continue to define new traffic models and associated aspects of QoS and operations, administration and management (OAM) applicable to IMT-2020 networks
ITU-T standardization activity based on the findings of the Focus Group will prioritize the alignment of 5G deliverables with those of ITU-R, ensuring that standardization work on the network aspects of 5G is informed by the progression of its radio-transmission systems.
Note to the editor: ITU-T Focus Groups are formed in response to immediate ICT standardization demands, charged with laying the foundations of subsequent standardization work in membership-driven ITU-T Study Groups. Focus Groups are open to organizations outside ITU’s membership and they are afforded greater flexibility in their chosen deliverables and working methods.
Airtel Nigeria has reaffirmed its long-term commitment to strengthening Nigeria’s digital infrastructure and data access to bridge gaps in connectivity and unlock new opportunities in the country.
The company restated this commitment during a recent high-level inspection tour of the Nxtra Data Centre that is being developed through Nxtra by Airtel Africa at Eko Atlantic, Lagos, the highly rated smart city with ambition to become the Data Centre hub of Nigeria.
The inspection tour was led by the Chief Executive Officer of Airtel Nigeria, Dinesh Balsingh and the Chief Executive Officer of Nxtra by Airtel Africa, Yashnath Issur, with the esteemed chairman of Eko Atlantic Mr. Gabbi Massoud, the CEO of the lead Engineering firm Design Group Limited, Mr. Bayo Odunlami and tech journalists.
The Nxtra Data Centre went through a stringent design validation process and cleared the approval to proceed construction from Eko Atlantic.
Commenting on the developments, Mr Issur said the site visit was a milestone marker and an indication of the company’s commitment to delivering the world-class digital facility on time and ensure that, ultimately, the investments deliver reliable, secure, world-class services for Nigeria and the rest of the continent.
“This Nxtra Data Centre in Lagos represents a critical part of our long-term vision for Nigeria’s digital ecosystem. Today’s visit allows us to review progress, engage our stakeholders, and ensure that our infrastructure investments continue to meet global standards and local needs.
“This data centre will deliver critical high multi megawatt capacity in line with hyperscale customers and enable high density environment. We are putting the infra to bring the cloud to Nigeria,” he said.
The data centre, set to be the largest in Nigeria, is being established to deliver hyperscale and edge facilities across key African markets. With a load of 38 Megawatts, the Lagos facility is expected to serve as a major hub for data hosting, cloud services, content distribution, artificial intelligence, and enterprise solutions in West Africa.
In his remarks, Mr Balsingh reiterated that the data centre was progressing steadily towards the previously announced 2028 go live date.
“Since the announcement of this project, our focus has been on building a world-class facility that supports Africa’s digital transformation agenda. We are encouraged by the progress recorded so far and remain committed to delivering a secure, energy-efficient, and future-ready data centre for Nigeria,” he said.
During the tour, stakeholders were ushered through key sections of the site, including piling zones, where required structural requirements have been tested. Technical teams provided briefings on infrastructure design, security architecture, redundancy systems, and sustainability measures being implemented to ensure reliability and operational excellence.
Strategically located close to major fibre routes and undersea cable landing stations, the Eko Atlantic data centre is designed to enhance Nigeria’s data sovereignty, reduce latency, and improve access to reliable digital services for private and enterprise customers, significantly boosting the country’s data hosting capacity and supporting emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing.
Mr. Massoud noted that the inspection tour underscored the city’s dedication to infrastructure of global relevance.
“Eko Atlantic as a city with high quality infrastructure will contribute positively to boost the economy of Nigeria and is a perfect place for the development of the digital infrastructure of Nigeria. The Nxtra data centre reflects the calibre of projects we seek to attract — long-term, technology-driven investments built to the highest global standards.
Today’s visit affirms the rigour of the planning and execution process by Nxtra, and the commitment of Eko Atlantic to facilitate and promote the Nigeria’s evolving digital ecosystem,” he said.
Through this ongoing investment, Airtel Nigeria and Nxtra continue to demonstrate their commitment to building infrastructure that enables innovation, supports economic development, and accelerates Nigeria’s digital transformation.
Nxtra by Airtel is developing a network of hyperscale data centres across the continent. Besides Lagos, construction of a new data centre has also commenced in Nairobi, Kenya and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Google has partnered with top African research institutions to unveil WAXAL, a massive open-access speech dataset aimed at giving over 100 million people across Sub-Saharan Africa a stronger voice in the AI future.
The initiative, announced Monday, targets a key digital gap by supplying high-quality data for 21 local languages, such as Hausa, Yoruba, Luganda, and Acholi. It includes 1,250 hours of transcribed natural speech and more than 20 hours of studio-grade recordings for advanced synthetic voice tech.
Voice AI has exploded globally, yet Africa’s 2,000-plus languages suffer from severe data shortages, sidelining hundreds of millions from native-tongue tech access. WAXAL, three years in the making with Google funding, changes that equation.
“This dataset lays the groundwork for students, researchers, and entrepreneurs to craft tech in their own languages, impacting over 100 million lives,” said Aisha Walcott-Bryantt, Head of Google Research Africa.
She highlighted its potential for African innovators to develop educational tools and voice services that spark economic growth continent-wide.
Community-led from the start, the project involved Makerere University (Uganda), University of Ghana, Digital Umuganda (Rwanda), and others. These partners own the data outright, pioneering fair AI collaboration models.
Covered languages: Acholi, Akan, Dagaare, Dagbani, Dholuo, Ewe, Fante, Fulani (Fula), Hausa, Igbo, Ikposo (Kposo), Kikuyu, Lingala, Luganda, Malagasy, Masaaba, Nyankole, Rukiga, Shona, Soga (Lusoga), Swahili, Yoruba.
WAXAL goes live today. Details at goo.gle/IntroducingWaxal.
Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has unveiled its Q4 2025 Network Performance Reports, showcasing nationwide quality boosts fueled by over $1 billion in industry investments and sharper regulatory focus.
NCC
Speaking at the launch, Executive Vice Chairman Dr. Aminu Maida hailed the Ookla-backed data as proof of NCC’s drive for transparent, evidence-driven oversight of Nigeria’s digital growth.
The reports track real-user experiences across cities, villages, highways, and nascent 5G areas, revealing faster median download speeds in both urban and rural spots versus Q3 2025.
Video streaming quality gaps between city and countryside have shrunk, thanks to a beefed-up 4G network—yet 5G rollout lags, upload speeds falter, and coverage holes linger in spots.
Maida said NCC is leaning on operators to fix these via spectrum tweaks, infrastructure drives, and stricter service rules, with 2025’s 2,850 new sites already paying off in broader reach and capacity.
Operators pledge even bigger spends in 2026 to keep the momentum, aiming for top-tier connectivity and economic inclusion for all Nigerians.
“We’ll turn these insights into real gains in service and access,” Maida affirmed, calling for sustained industry teamwork.
SEC Warns of Potential Ponzi-style Risks in AURUM BOT, ModMount
Airtel Nigeria Commits to Boosting Nigeria’s Digital Infrastructure
Ungoverned AI is Quietly Scaling Risk in Nigeria – Dr. Naiho
Goodnews Naija Podcast Emerges as a Platform for Positive Nigerian Storytelling
First Lady Commissions Dream Centre @ OAU
19 Nigerian Banks Meet CBN Recapitalization Targets Ahead of March Deadline
Youth Talent Takes Center Stage as T2 Ignites High-Octane Rap Battles @ Carnival Calabar
Aig-Imoukhuede Foundation Wrapped Up 2025 with Real Change in Governance, Health, Media Across Africa
Showmax Unlocks Easier Payments for Nigerian Subscribers via Baxi
Nigerian Terra Industries Secures $11.8m for Expansion
Telecom1 day agoTelecom Operators Invest Over $1Bn on 2,850 New Sites in 2025 – NCC
E-Financial1 day agoIf Capital is the Answer, What Exactly is the Problem with First Holdco
E-Financial1 day agoAmaanah Finance to Unveils Non-Interest Banking Services Today
General News1 day agoFirst Trustees to Host 8th Islamic Estate Planning Clinic in Abuja
News1 day agoNSCDC Hands over Fake Crypto Currency Trader to EFCC
News1 day agoAlakija’s Flourish Africa Provides N300m Grants for Women Entrepreneurs
General News1 day agoSecurity Forces Probe Use of Drones by Terrorists
Broadcasting1 day agoNew Horizons Nigeria Breaks Ground: First to Fuse Mandarin into ICT Curriculum