MTN confirms USD 5.2 bln fine in Nigeria

News Wireless Nigeria 26 OCT 2015
MTN confirms USD 5.2 bln fine in Nigeria
MTN Group has confirmed that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has imposed a fine equivalent to USD 5.2 billion on its subsidiary in Nigeria. In a statement to its shareholders, MTN said this fine relates to the timing of the disconnection of 5.1 million MTN Nigeria subscribers who were disconnected in August and September for failure to register their personal details. The fine is based on an amount of NGN 200,000 for each unregistered subscriber. MTN Nigeria said it's in discussions with the NCC "to resolve the matter in recognition of the circumstances that prevailed with regard to these subscribers".

MTN is the largest operator in Nigeria with in total around 62.5 million customers. In its latest trading udpate, MTN said it disconnected 5.1 million customers in August for failure to register, but has since reconnected about 3.4 million of those. The operator cuts its forecast for net subscriber additions in Nigeria this year to 4.5 million, from an estimate of 5 million in June, in part due to the subscriber registration requirements. 

In addition to subscriber registration, MTN has been facing regulatory pressure to improve the quality of its services in Nigeria, after receiving fines and a temporary sales ban last year. The company said it's put corrective measures in place to address the operational challenges experienced in the first half of the year and has seen "significant improvement in network quality together with more competitive offerings". A chief operations officer role was established and is held on an interim basis by CTO Jyoti Desai. 

Categories:

Mobile

Companies:

MTN,  MTN Nigeria,  NCC

Countries:

Nigeria

Tags:

Regulations

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