Nigeria’s leading telecommunications operators have dismissed claims by some Nationwide Meeting members that the nation lacks the infrastructure for real-time digital transmission of election outcomes.
They insisted that the objections are based mostly on half-truths moderately than present business knowledge.
Operators, together with MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Globacom and T2 Cellular, argued that Nigeria has enough community protection to assist the digital transmission of polling unit outcomes to the Impartial Nationwide Electoral Fee’s Outcome Viewing Portal (iREV) and collation centres forward of the 2027 basic elections.
The telcos, beneath the umbrella of the Affiliation of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), challenged the Senate to depend on verified knowledge from the business regulator, which is the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), moderately than making broad claims about insufficient infrastructure.
Gbenga Adebayo, ALTON’s chairman, instructed newsmen that any evaluation of telecom protection not sourced from the NCC shouldn’t be thought of dependable.
“As we converse immediately, over 70 % of the nation is roofed by 3G and 4G networks, 5G has reached about 11 per cent protection, whereas the remaining areas are on 2G,” Adebayo mentioned.
“Even in actuality, 2G is powerful sufficient to transmit outcomes electronically. We can not settle for a blanket ban on digital transmission based mostly on half-truths about our infrastructure and investments.”
He acknowledged that safety challenges in components of the nation, notably in about two states affected by insurgency, have restricted operators’ skill to take care of amenities, however confused that such points ought to be addressed by way of stakeholder collaboration moderately than used to justify a nationwide rejection of digital transmission.
“That’s what all stakeholders can sit collectively and determine cowl,” he added. “It’s not sufficient to say the nation is just not prepared.”
ALTON’s place aligns with that of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), which had beforehand dismissed comparable issues forward of the 2023 elections.
INEC maintained that the place community challenges existed, outcomes uploaded to iREV would transmit routinely as soon as the gadget entered an space with protection.
The renewed debate comes as preparations for the 2027 elections collect momentum, with digital transmission broadly seen by civil society teams and voters as important to bettering transparency and public belief within the electoral course of.
More and more, individuals argue that makes an attempt to limit e-transmission danger undermining democratic beneficial properties, fueling issues amongst Nigerians that some lawmakers could also be searching for to weaken electoral accountability moderately than strengthen it.
