Nigerian Communications Commission has given a November 16 deadline for MTN Nigeria to pay a N1.04tn ($5.2bn) fine for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM cards.

The telecoms regulator said this on Thursday through its spokesperson, Tony Ojobo.
He told AFP, “The deadline set for the payment of the fine is November 16. The key issue is if MTN breached the law or not. Certainly, there was a breach. And if there is a breach, we will apply the law.”

The NCC had in August issued a directive to mobile telecoms companies operating in Nigeria to deactivate all unregistered SIM cards within seven days or face severe sanctions.

MTN missed the deadline to deactivate its 5.1 million unregistered subscribers, prompting a N200,000 ($1,000) fine for each unregistered SIM.

The penalty saw the company’s shares crash on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and raised questions about the renewal of its licence in Nigeria next year if the fine goes unpaid.

MTN had more than 62.8 million subscribers in Nigeria by the second quarter of this year.

Senior officials of the government, the NCC and MTN began talks in Abuja on Thursday to thrash out a solution to the matter, Ojobo said.

But he did not specify what precise sanctions MTN could face.

Under the law, the NCC’s powers include “granting or revoking of permits for connection of customer equipment” and “determination of services and new undertakings eligible for licensing from time to time”.

On what would happen if MTN failed to meet the deadline, Ojobo said, “When we get to the bridge, we will know how to cross it. The deadline set for the payment of the fine is November 16.

“If the situation will change in any way, then the government at the top will have to so direct. But for now, the mood is to apply the law.”

Meanwhile, MTN Nigeria has sought the intervention of the South African High Commission in the matter.

It was learnt that the telecom firm had approached the commission to prevail on the Federal Government to either waive the fine or reduce it drastically.

A source told one of our correspondents on Thursday that MTN had been briefing the mission about its engagement with the NCC over the fine, which it was learnt could cripple its operations in the country.

The South African company, which operates in more than 21 countries across Africa and the Middle East, considers Nigeria as its cash cow with over 62 million subscribers.

“MTN has sought the assistance of the South African embassy over the NCC fine; although it is negotiating with the NCC over the matter, the firm is also considering using diplomatic and political levers to resolve the issue of the fine which it finds disproportionate,” the source stated.

When contacted, the South African High Commissioner to Nigeria, Mr. Lulu Mnguni, confirmed that it could intervene if approached by MTN over the NCC fine.

“It (MTN) is engaging the NCC for now, we cannot get involved in the matter until MTN asks us to intervene, but we are watching the process,” he stated.
http://punchng.com/2015/10/2298

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Useless mtn

Truly the fine is on the high side and will surely affect them adversely but MTN does not deserve any pity from Nigerians even from its customers here.

We are asking MTN that is worth $20billion to pay $5billion as fine on one of her subsidary. I doubt they can afford it except they approach the stock exchange or bonds but still can they raise it? This is MTN not Apple.

Another angle is that Nigeria is trying to nationalize MTN Nigeria

November 16 is too far oooo..

They should pay on or before Nov 3 with a promise to sue Isaiah43vs18&19..

MTN does not pity nigerians with their bills nd behind the scene deductions, so why must u pity them now.

At least with that fine, some useless states go fit pay their workers salary abii nigeria no dey fine revenue again

I support Mynd44...

Somebody is intrested in that company, maybe _i_ub_ or someone in the Hay-Phee-Cee...or 1 of their friends

What about Glo, Airtel & so on? Those ones de correct abi dem fine them too

...we de watch, but DON'T quote me when it happens!

menix:
November 16 is too far oooo..

They should pay on or before Nov 3 with a promise to sue Isaiah43vs18&19..

MTN does not pity nigerians with their bills nd behind the scene deductions, so why must u pity them now.

At least with that fine, some useless states go fit pay their workers salary abii nigeria no dey fine revenue again

Why evils? I think MTN ought to be fined since they were the ones that messed up the registration process but $5billion is too much. MTN cannot pay that.

The problem however is that other networks were fined according to the $1000 per sim so reducing this fine seems unfair.

MTN messed up though

Paytime time.

They've missed with us for so long, now its paytime. The govt should show them no mercy. They either pay or pack their bags.

Huh , this fine is huge & will affect Mtn's business adversely. The only advantage they have here is they are already a big player in our telecoms sector if not, the company would have folded.
And considering the stiff competition from other telecoms at the moment, it will take them more than 5-10 years to recover from this loss whether by hook or crook.

The fine is too huge, and the NCC isn't making sense at all by not considering the likely consequences. If this measure cripples MTN Nigeria's operations, thousands of their employees (Nigerians, of course) would be laid off. And that would be a creation of unemployment rather than employment.

And it's only a hope that some people somewhere are not trying to use the fine to enrich themselves and their generations to come. If there’s anything I can be sure of as far as this issue is concerned, it's that the money would be embezzled by some fools who don't care about the likely fate of several Nigerians working with MTN.

why nahhhh
this thing nah for our head.
is the masses and mtn subscribers that will suffer this fate.
imagine whn you'll make some seconds call and before you know it you don make 5minutes calls.

the best thing ncc would have done is to regulate their rate of call timing because it always runs very very fast not like normal clock seconds.

All these they will do to get their money back in just one week, i begg you those guy get sense now my mb don even finished self .

Lordtrillion:
Huh , this fine is huge & will affect Mtn's business adversely. The only advantage they have here is they are already a big player in our telecoms sector if not, the company would have folded.
And considering the stiff competition from other telecoms at the moment, it will take them more than 5-10 years to recover from this loss whether by hook or crook.

my brother though the money is much but i bet you they will recover in lest than a week to months.
mtn are the biggest network provider n they have the largest number of subscribers just say half of Nigerians.
cal. by estimation 10,000,000.(people) * 100(#100 airtime a day)=you know the results yourself

Tonybills:


my brother though the money is much but i bet you they will recover in lest than a week to months.
mtn are the biggest network provider n they have the largest number of subscribers just say half of Nigerians.
cal. by estimation 10,000,000.(people) * 100(#100 airtime a day)=you know the results yourself

Not that easy bro. They have operational cost, Workers salary, investors dividends, Tax, among others. From your calculation above from call, it will still take them roughly 4 years plus just to reach 1.4 trillion. It will take them not less than 5 years upward to recover
I just hope NCC shows them some mercy even if it means reducing the fine to 1/3rd by lowering the #200,000 fine per Sim. It will sure benefit other telecoms too. Because If Mtn eventually raises the money, I see them cutting cost in terms of retrenching a good amount of workers, etc. You sure know the negative effect at this point in time where our economy is still staggering.