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The telcos, including MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Globacom and T2 Mobile, have dismissed the excuses as half-truth that Nigeria has no capacity for electronic transmission of results.
They challenged the Senate to get accurate information from the telcom regulator, the NCC, rather than dishing out information that would not hold water in today’s telecom development.
Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators in Nigeria, ALTON, the umbrella body of the telcos, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, told Vanguard that any information about the telecom infrastructure and country coverage not emanating from the NCC could not be relied upon.
His words: “Upon which survey or statistics is the Senate coming up with its position of inadequate telecom infrastructure? As we speak today, over 70% of the country is covered with 3G and 4G, and 5G have about 11% coverage and the rest is 2G.
“Even in reality, 2G is strong enough to transmit results electronically. I do not know where the Senate is getting its information but we can’t take that blanket ban on electronic transmission based on a half-truth about our infrastructure and investments.
“We agree that there are just maybe about two states that, due to insurgency, that our members cannot risk going to maintain facilities. But that is what all stakeholders can sit together and decide how to cover those places. It’s not enough to say the country is not ready for electronic transmission.’’
Adebayo‘s position tallies with that INEC, which in 2022 dismissed the fears, saying where there were network challenges, results uploaded to iREV would transmit once the machines were within areas with network coverage.
