In a bid to have more subscribers on their books, many telcos have sold a few unregistered sim cards without obtaining any subscriber information since GSM network services were launched in the country in 2001. “That fine is totally and utterly out of proportion to whatever regulation they are contravening, if any”.
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The NCC had ordered all mobile phone companies to register their customers’ SIM cards by August or face sanctions.
A top official of MTN Nigeria who is not authorised to speak on the matter however confirmed to LEADERSHIP that NCC truly issued the fine against MTN Nigeria.
The fine was imposed because MTN Nigeria did not disconnect 5.1 million subscribers as required by the country’s SIM registration rules.
MTN is one of the biggest telcos in Nigeria.
“I can’t see MTN ever paying a fine that large but I guess the concern is that this could still end up being a multibillion fine at the end of the day”.
However the regulator maintains that it found flaws in the process even then, and that unregistered MTN SIM cards may have been used by kidnappers in a high profile case would not have helped MTN’s argument.
The NCC stated that “MTN’s non-compliance with the deactivation directive is unfortunately not an isolated incident”.
Also, NCC’s Director, Public Affairs, informed THISDAY yesterday that it acted within its mandate as a regulator.
It was fined 200,000 naira (just over $1,000) per subscriber, leaving it with a total bill in excess of NGN1 trillion. This values the company at 308 billion rand ($23 billion), reported Bloomberg.
MTN spokesman Chris Maroleng could not immediately be reached for comment.
MTN South Africa’s subscriber base now stands at 29.1 million, after prepaid subscriber numbers grew by 3.1 per cent.
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MTN Nigeria allegedly disobeyed directives by the NCC to deactivate unregistered mobile phones, which subsequently opened the country to “grave security threats”. “That’s an astonishing amount of money”.
