There are indications that the Nigerian
Communications Commission may be asked to
reduce the N1.04 trillion fine imposed on MTN
Nigeria over non compliance in the deactivation
of improper registered SIM cards. This is after the Commission Tuesday, received a
letter from the telecommunications company,
apologizing for wrong doing and pleading for
leniency. An impeccable source at the NCC told Vanguard
on condition of anonymity that the commission
was in receipt of MTN’s apology letter but
however added that the power to decide what is
to be done at the moment was no longer in
NCC’s hands. According to the source, “ I can confirm that the
commission has received an official letter from
MTN admitting its guilt and pleading for leniency.
However, the power to grant the leniency is no
longer entirely on NCC’s hands but that of the
presidency. But there are also indications that the Federal Government may ask us to reduce
the fine to an appreciable level. “If MTN had complied with several directives by
the NCC it wouldn’t have been in this mess but I
hope they learn their lessons from this. Nigeria is
its biggest market. It was surprising that they
didn’t anticipate that if things get wrong here, it
could affect their other markets. Now, it is alleged that it has lost more than $2.7b from
people migrating from its shares to others since
this incident. Its a lesson they should not allow
to recur” he added. Meanwhile, according to a report published by
online platform, Bloomberg Business yesterday,
the South African lawmakers, are planning to
meet with the officials of MTN Group Limited to
discuss why the company was fined $5.2 billion
by the NCC. The report said that the law makers also intend
to summon the South African industry regulator
to determine whether MTN is compliant with
local rules, with hearings likely to take place
next year. Bloomberg quoted chairwoman of Parliament’s
telecommunications committee Nkhensani
Kubayi, to be leading the panel.


www.vanguardngr.com/2015/11/ncc-may-reduce-mtns-n1-04tr-fine/

Rubbish