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 Chief Operating Officer of ATCON, Ajibola Olude, gave the assurance against the backdrop of criticism of the BVAS and e-transmission of results by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
The national chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Adamu, 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 the party’s concerns with the technology, saying they are not against using it for the elections next year, but to urge the INEC to assess its readiness for the innovation.
But Olude said the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has 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 said: “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.”