At Beyond the Ballot Summit, ALTON pledges a resilient telecom network, by Okoh Aihe
- ✦The 2023 Presidential Election faced significant public criticism due to technical glitches that hindered the uploading and transmission of results from polling stations.
- ✦Following a January 2025 tariff review approved by the government, telecom operators have increased investments in base stations, fibre layouts, and power capacity to improve national connectivity.
- ALTON Chairman Gbenga Adebayo confirmed that the government cannot shut down telecom networks, emphasizing that operators provide the infrastructure while content moderation remains the responsibility of social media platforms.
- The Nigerian telecommunications industry has committed nearly ₦4 trillion in capital expenditure between 2025 and 2026 to expand network capacity, coverage, and resilience ahead of future electoral cycles.
- INEC is actively partnering with global social media platforms, including a signed Memorandum of Understanding with TikTok, to ensure real-time response and integrity during electoral processes.
Concluding her keynote on Beyond the Ballot Summit in Abuja, Prof Abigail Ogwezzy-Ndisika wrote: Generative Artificial Intelligence and Foreign Information Manipulation pose serious challenges to our republic but they are not our destiny because technology is created by humans and human...
Frequently Asked Questions About This Story
Can telecom operators determine the nature of content pushed through their networks?
No, ALTON Chairman Gbenga Adebayo clarified that operators only provide the infrastructure (the pipes) and have no way of determining the nature of content, which is the responsibility of platforms like X, Facebook, and Instagram.
What specific measures are telecom operators taking to support the 2027 elections?
Operators are implementing network redundancy, alternative transmission routes, backup power systems, and traffic rerouting, with specific focus on securing connectivity for INEC offices, polling-unit clusters, and collation centres.
