Hon. Alagie Mbowe, National Assembly Member for Upper Saloum Constituency led the committee members to PURA.
According to the Select Committee, the visit to the multi-sector regulatory Authority was the first of its kind in the 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, tariff on the telecommunication sector, network coverage penetration specifically in Central River Region, reliability of the fibre cables, and the collocation of antennas on towers.
The mission accorded the National Assembly Select Committee on ICT and Education the understanding of how the regulatory operates and performs. It also adequately informed them of the challenges the Authority encounters, 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 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 ICT Act 2009 is being done amidst the growing calls for amendment of the PURA Act 2001.
Yusupha M. Jobe, Director General for PURA lauded the initiative of the National Assembly Select Committee and assured them that their concerns and suggestions would be given urgent consideration.
He informed the gathering that the Authority recently acquired several tools through partner funding specifically from the World Bank dubbed EMF TOOL to effectively serve the public as well as allay their fears and concerns.
