No money will have to be paid over until after MTN and Nigerian authorities have concluded negotiations over the fine, which, according to reports, is the largest ever imposed on a telecoms company by a regulatory agency anywhere in the world.
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The company has sent top executives to Abuja to try to negotiate a way out, and Shittu stressed the ball remained in MTN’s court.
The NCC source disclosed that there won’t be cancellation of the fine, “but the telecommunications firm pleaded passionately for staggered payment after admitting to have erred in every material particular”.
Also, the NCC spokesman, Tony Ojobo, was not reachable yesterday.
“The fact that they have pushed back the deadline shows that they are seriously negotiating and perhaps we could see a reprieve”, said Imara SP Reid’s analyst Sibonginkosi Nyanga in Johannesburg.
MTN will not have to pay a US$5,2bn fine to Nigerian authorities today, 16 November, which was previously the deadline set down by the Nigerian Communications Commission for payment of the record-setting penalty.
A federal government official hinted that government may not slam further sanction on the telecoms company.
The new communication technology minister Barrister Adebayo Shittu had told Reuters on Friday that Nigeria did not want MTN to close shop as a result of the fine, but that it must obey the regulator’s directive.
“Nobody wants MTN to die. It is up to MTN”.
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Nhleko was named executive chairman of MTN for a period of up to six months after Sifiso Dabengwa stepped down as CEO with immediate effect on Monday.
