November 28,2022

The Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has reassured Nigerians that the implementation of the Biometric Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) and electronic transmission of the election results in 2023 were feasible due to the high level of telecoms infrastructure available in the nation.

The nation’s telecommunications infrastructure has developed to the point that it can broadcast election results in 2023, according to ATCON, the umbrella organization for all telecoms businesses in Nigeria, including MTN, Airtel, 9Mobile, Glo and other operators

The assurances were given in an interview with The PUNCH on Sunday by the chief operating officer of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria, Ajibola Olude, against the backdrop of criticism of the BVAS and e-transmission of results by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Abdullahi Adamu, the national chairman of the APC, had voiced concerns about INEC’s ability to conduct a fair election utilizing the BVAS and the Results Viewing Portal, also known as the electronic transmission of election results.

Adamu expressed their concerns with the technology, saying they were not against using it for the elections next year, but had just urged the INEC to assess its readiness to use it.

In his statement, the COO of the ATCON, Olude, said the Nigerian Communications Commission had been actively pursuing rural telephony to ensure national coverage before the election when asked about the ability of the telecoms to transmit election results without glitches.

He stressed that there would be no issue using the telecommunications network to communicate election results by pointing out that locations without Internet access could use Short Message Service technology to deliver results in real-time.

Olude stated, “We are ready for electronic transmission of results. Our network has matured to the level that it can be used for result transmission. As regards the access gap, you can see that the NCC has been pursuing rural telephony vigorously.

“And I want to believe one of the reasons the NCC is saying everywhere must be covered is because of the elections

We have the technology, and our network is mature enough to be used for poll results transmission. Areas that do not have the Internet can use SMS technology to send results in real-time to probably the capital of the state to update the result. I don’t think there will be a problem using a telecommunication network to transmit election results.”