Federal government has approved N654 million for the purchase and deployment of spectrum monitoring system for the South-Eastern part of the country.
Spectrum relates to the radio frequencies allocated to the mobile industry and other sectors for communication over the airwaves.
Some believe that spectrum is a finite and valuable resource that needs protection from interference because illegal broadcasters use equipment which may cause interference and have the potential to disrupt the communications of critical services like air traffic control.
According to Isa Pantami, minister of Communications and Digital Economy, the approval for the purchase and deployment of spectrum monitoring system was obtained at a meeting of the Federal Executive Council presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari Wednesday.
The minister said investigation carried out in the five geopolitical zones of the country revealed that out of the 320 frequencies discovered, 106 are illegal.
He said those responsible for the illegal frequencies would be prosecuted.
The minister said, “The Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy sought the approval of council for deployment of hybrid spectrum monitoring system, most importantly to focus on the South-Eastern zone of the country.
“From January to August 2020, within the period of eight months, we discovered 320 frequencies being used all over the country and of this 320, 106 were illegal.
“This is very worrisome because the usage of this illegal spectrum or frequencies will compromise our security and safety in the country.
“It is because of the agenda of President Muhammadu Buhari, on promoting security that we came up with this initiative of monitoring the usage of frequencies and uncover the legal and the illegal ones.”
He added, “For the legal ones, it is to ensure they renew their licenses annually and for the illegal ones, necessary actions are being taken according to the gravity of the offence.
“We discovered that our monitoring did not cover South-East part of the country. It covered five zones – North-East, North-West, North-Central, South-West and South-South, however, South-East has not been covered.
“It is because of this that we presented our memo, seeking for council’s approval of N653,886,584 to procure and deploy hybrid spectrum monitoring system that will cover the southern part of the country, most importantly the South East.”