BREAKING NEWS, Business
–
THE Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has given a reprieve to the MTN to pay the N1.4trillion ($5.2 billion) fine imposed on the company for failing to cut off unregistered SIM cards to be paid at the end of ongoing discussion with the federal government.
The MTN, a telecom giant, said in a statement on Monday, November 16, that the NCC had pushed back a Monday deadline for payment of the fine until talks had been concluded.
The deadline for payment of the fine expires on Monday, November 16, evening. But the telecom operator in a statement said: “Although the NCC set a deadline for payment of the fine by Monday, 16 November 2015 (today), shareholders are advised that the Nigerian authorities have, without prejudice, agreed that the imposed fine will not be payable until the negotiations have been concluded.
“Shareholders are advised that the executive chairman of the Company, Mr. Phuthuma Nhleko, has personally met with the Nigerian authorities to continue the ongoing discussions with them regarding the fine of N200,000 for each unregistered subscriber (the fine), the equivalent of $5.2 billion imposed on MTN Nigeria by the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC. These discussions include matters of non-compliance and the remedial measures that may have to be adopted to address this….
“MTN is committed to resolving the matter together with the NCC as soon as possible and will continue to update stakeholders of any material developments regarding the afore-mentioned fine via SENS.”
The MTN was accused of harbouring about 5.2million unregistered SIM cards on its network.
In view of criminal activities going on in the country, especially the Boko Haram insurgency, the NCC has been pushing telecom operators to verify the identity of their subscribers and expressed concern that unregistered SIM cards were being used by criminals. This prompted the decision to impose fine on erring operator found wanting.
— Nov 16, 2015 @ 20:00 GMT
|
Tags:
