Business Briefs
NIGERIAN Communications Commission, NCC, is to audit and sanction operators if they don’t pass financial and technical checks to prevent a repeat of a situation with Etisalat Nigeria, which was unable to pay $1.2 billion of debt it borrowed from banks. This is to ensure that telecom operators’ networks meet the required benchmarks to enable them apply for loans to expand their operations.
Sunday Dare, executive director of stakeholder management, NCC, said the Etisalat Nigeria incident was a huge embarrassment for the country. The operator could not pay back loans it had taken for network upgrade and expansion and eventually rebranded as 9mobile after parent Etisalat terminated a management agreement with it and handed its 45 percent stake to a trustee.
In a statement issued in July, the NCC said if 9mobile had gone under it would have created a social and security challenges, especially with the job of over 2,000 Nigerians on the line.
Umar Garba Danbatta, executive vice chairman, NCC, said at the time the regulator wants to “avert a looming economic disaster and see a viable and thriving 9mobile.”
– Sept. 1, 2017 @ 10:00 GMT /
Tags: Etisalat NCC audits Finances of Telecom Operators Nigerian Communications Commission Sunday Dare
