The National Assembly Select Committee on ICT and Education on Tuesday 11th October 2022 held a consultative audience with the Management of PURA.
Leading the NA select committee members to PURA was Hon. Alagie Mbowe, the National Assembly Member for Upper Saloum Constituency.
According to the Select Committee, such a visit to the offices of the multi-sector regulatory Authority is the first of its kind in annals of The Gambia’s legislative history.
The consultative session highlighted and discussed salient issues revolving around regulatory effectiveness, issuance of licensing and its processes, spectrum fee collection, the tariff on the telecommunication sector, network coverage penetration specifically in the CRR, reliability of the fibre cable, and the collocation of antennas on towers.
The mission accorded the National Assembly Select Committee on ICT and Education to understand the regulatory operations and performance of PURA. It adequately informed them of the challenges the Authority encountered parallel to the assigned regulatory role sanctioned by the PURA Act 2001.
Further, the consultative session was highly welcomed and viewed as a commendable drive geared towards empowering the members of the Select Committee on ICT with the requisite information essential to their work.
The Authority expressed appreciation for the timely visit, considering that the review of the IC Act 2009 is being done amidst the growing calls for amendment of the PURA Act 2001.
The PURA DG Mr. Yusupha M. Jobe lauded the initiative of the National Assembly Select Committee and further assured them that all their concerns and suggestions would be given urgent consideration. He informed the gathering that recently the Authority has acquired quite a number of tools through partner funding specifically from the World Bank dubbed EMF tool to effectively serve the public and allay the fears and concerns of the general public.