Telecom
ATCON Reveals Date, Guidelines for NEC 2020 – 2022 Elections
The National Executive Council of the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has announced the date and guidelines for its 2020 Annual General Meeting (AGM) and elections into various positions of its National Executive Council (NEC).
Mr. Ajibola Olude, Executive Secretary, ATCON disclosed this in a statement released on Thursday, in Lagos.
Mr.Olude in the statement stated that the announcement was in line with the associations’ method of upholding the principle of transparency in the conduct of its forthcoming elections into various positions on the National Executive Council of the Association.
The statement further revealed that the Annual General Meeting (AGM) and Elections of the National Executive Council (NEC) 2020 – 2022 of the Association will take place on Thursday, April 30, 2020.
On the guidelines for the ATCON NEC Elections, the Executive Secretary noted that in accordance with the Association’s Constitution, the following positions would be open for contest in the elections:
- National President
- 1st Vice President
iii. 2nd Vice President
- National Secretary
- Treasurer
- Financial Secretary
vii. National Publicity Secretary
viii. Coordinator, Telephone Operators
- Coordinator, Infrastructure Providers
- Coordinator, Internet Services Providers
- Coordinator, Manufacturer’s Representative
xii. Coordinator, Equipment Dealers
xiii. Coordinator, Value Added Services
xiv. Coordinator, Consulting
Eligibility
“Any financial member, upon nomination by two other financial members of the Association, shall be eligible for election into any of the elective positions for a term of two years in the first instance subject to re-election for a maximum of two (2) additional terms PROVIDED ALWAYS that such election or re-election is supported by the highest number of votes cast for the candidates for the position at the Annual General Meeting where the election is held.
“To be qualified for an election, a candidate Must be a Chief Executive Officer or at least a Director duly authorized or designated to represent his/her company by its management.
Process of Nomination
“Any member wishing to stand for election into any of the offices listed on the Nomination Form should fill his/her name in the appropriate column and get two other financial members of the Association to sponsor and support his/her nomination.
“On the other hand, a member wishing to nominate another or other members for election should fill the name(s) of the Nominee(s) in the appropriate column(s) and indicate the organization(s) of the nominee(s) as appropriate. Such a member must ensure that the other members he/she is nomination agree(s) to his/her/their nomination(s) by signing the appropriate part of the nomination form. Also, such member nomination must ensure that each nomination is supported by two financial members of the Association.
“The completed nomination forms should be duly signed and returned to the secretariat not later than Friday, March 13, 2020.
“The secretariat may be contacted to pick up duly completed nomination forms or offer any assistance in respect of clarifying any of the above requirements or in the submission of the completed nomination form(s).
Voting
“Each member company is entitled to two votes per position. It is therefore expected that each member company will be represented by two delegates each casting one vote in respect of a position. However, where a single individual represents a company, that individual present at the AGM / Election shall cast only one vote on-behalf of his/her company.
“Voting shall be by Secret Ballot.
Elections
“Election shall be conducted by a duly constituted Electoral Committee to be appointed on the floor of the AGM by the outgoing Executive with the approval of members at the meeting.
“The Electoral Committee shall be dissolved upon the conclusion of the elections.
“Elected officers shall assume their posts immediately upon conclusion of the elections.
Note
“Only financially active members shall be allowed to vote and be voted for at the elections.
“National Executive Council positions are open to persons whose companies are financial members and upon confirmation of payment of Annual Dues for 2020 and 2021.
Nomination Forms
Shall be available on request from the Secretariat
Clydestone Ghana Plc has filed a writ of summons and statement of claim against MTN Ghana, MTN Group Limited and Mobile Money Fintech Limited, alleging unauthorized use of its intellectual property.
The company announced the court action at the Ghana Stock Exchange, confirming proceedings in the Commercial Division of the High Court of Ghana.
The case relates to work commissioned in 2007 that Clydestone alleges was later used without authorisation or compensation.
Clydestone said the claim involves proprietary intellectual property, confidential commercial information and operational methodology developed during the engagement. The company is seeking declarations, damages and equitable remedies.
In a statement, Clydestone said MTN Ghana engaged it in 2007 to develop a commercial and operational framework for a mobile money business.
“The work was developed and delivered by the company’s founder and Group CEO, Paul Jacquaye, and included a full mobile money ecosystem covering the commercial model, operational architecture, implementation methodology and business case.”
Clydestone said the work was commissioned on the understanding that a non-disclosure agreement and memorandum of understanding would be signed.
It alleges these agreements were not finalised despite repeated requests.
The company further alleges MTN Ghana later used its proprietary work and methodology without authorisation or compensation, including in MTN Mobile Money Ghana and other markets.
Clydestone said the alleged use has continued since the launch of MTN Mobile Money Ghana in 2009.
“The wrongful use of that work has been ongoing since 2009. What has changed is the availability of independently verifiable information that documents its scale and commercial significance,” the company said.
It cited the GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 and MTN Ghana’s 2025 annual report as evidence of the platform’s scale.
According to Clydestone, the reports show approximately 19.3 million active users and annual revenue of about GHS 6.0 billion ($516m).
The company said it reviewed its records following these publications and concluded there were sufficient grounds to initiate legal proceedings.
It added that it has received no payment or acknowledgement for the work since December 2007, and that pre-action correspondence in 2026 received no substantive response.
“The Board of Directors has unanimously authorised the commencement of these proceedings,” the company said.
Jacquaye said: “This case is about accountability for commissioned intellectual property.
“When independent publications in 2025 and 2026 revealed the scale of the mobile money business, we reviewed all documentation relating to the original engagement and concluded these proceedings were necessary.”
MTN Group Limited, named as a defendant, had not commented at the time of publication.
In a development that underscores the fragile state of Nigeria’s telecommunications grid, an incident of infrastructure vandalism in Delta State has severely disrupted network connectivity, leaving thousands of subscribers stranded.
The breach, where a robber attacked the sites, occurred at an IHS-managed telecom node in the ASB region on July 8, 2026, immediately knocking 33 base stations offline across 2G, 3G, and 4G spectrums.
The situation in the region escalated drastically by morning when a separate fibre-optic cable cut severed primary transmission lines. Because the compromised node serves as a critical fibre convergence point, the secondary fibre cut triggered a cascading failure.
This secondary disruption ballooned the number of dark sites from 33 to 103, temporarily paralysing digital communications, banking, and commerce in the affected communities.
Industry sources reveal that the financial and logistical toll of such incidents is becoming unsustainable for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs).
Currently, network providers are utilising 20 per cent more spare parts than initially budgeted for the fiscal year.
This unpredictable depletion of technical reserves has stripped operators of their supply buffers, making inventory management and financial forecasting increasingly difficult for telecom executives.
Consequently, engineering teams have been forced to cannibalise materials originally designated for network expansion and new site rollouts just to perform emergency restorations on the damaged sites.
This diversion of resources significantly delays the rollout of new infrastructure, stifling the nation’s broader broadband penetration targets and stalling anticipated revenue generation for the telecom companies.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) recently noted an average of 1,744 weekly attacks on telecom infrastructure nationwide, including over 1,100 fibre cuts.
As operators endure protracted back-and-forth negotiations with insurance firms to cover these sudden hardware losses, stakeholders are intensifying calls for the strict enforcement of the Federal Government’s recent designation of telecom assets as Critical National Information Infrastructure (CNII) to safeguard Quality of Service (QoS).
Viral rumors about a “Tesla Pi Phone” a new phone, being developed by Elon Musk, CEO and largest shareholder of Tesla and SpaceX, are entirely fake.
AI Generated Tesla Pi Phone and Elon Musk
Instead, the tech giant said on Monday it has filed an application with the US Federal Communications Commission for permission to deploy the constellation by 2028.
It said the system would provide voice, messaging, data and emergency services.
A quick fact-check revealed that Tesla Inc. has never manufactured, developed, or released a smartphone.
Videos and articles claiming a release (often priced between $150 and $800 with solar charging or satellite-only connections) rely on AI-generated concept art and recycled internet hoaxes dating back to 2021.
Musk has only mentioned a phone in hypothetical remarks, stating Tesla would build one only if major app stores completely blocked or censored essential apps like X (formerly Twitter).
On Monday however, his company said that “Amazon looks forward to delivering on the promise of D2D [direct-to-device] connectivity, including to the millions of people living, travelling and working in places beyond the reach of existing networks today,”
The filing is the first step from Amazon into satellite mobile connections, which has until now been dominated by SpaceX’s Starlink service.
Musk’s group has signed partnerships with existing operators such as T-Mobile US and the UK’s Virgin Media O2 to provide phone services for customers where their conventional networks do not reach.
Starlink operates across more than 150 countries, offering high-speed internet connections through its constellation of satellites.
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