N1.04trn fine: MTN pays N50bn out-of-court settlement

N1.04trn fine: MTN pays N50bn out-of-court settlement

…withdraws suit against FGN

BY JUSTUS ADEJUMOH

Telecommunication giant, MTN on Wednesday, withdrew its legal suit against the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and paid the sum of N50 billion to settle out-of-court.

The telecom giant withdrew the case at the Federal High Court in Lagos in response to a request by the NCC.

Speaking on the withdrawal, the CEO of MTN Nigeria, Ferdi Moolman, said, “This is a most encouraging development. It demonstrates a willingness and sincerity by both parties to work together towards a positive outcome.”

He further added that MTN paid N50bn to the federal government “as a gesture of good faith and commitment to continued efforts towards an amicable resolution”.

NCC had last year fined the telecom giant the sum of N1.04 trillion for failing to deactivate 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards and later reduced the amount to N780 billion after the first round of negotiations.

MTN, however, requested an out-of-court settlement late last year.

When Business Hallmark contacted the head of Regulatory and Corporate Affairs, MTN Nigeria, Amina Oyagbola on phone, there was no response. There was no reply to the text message sent to her phone as at the time of filing this report.

Nigeria is the MTN group’s largest market, where it had more than 62.8 million subscribers by the second quarter of 2015.

MTN Nigeria was slapped with the penalty in October 2015 after it missed a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards.

The company issued a profit warning last week and said the Nigerian dispute was a factor in falling earnings.