MTN Nigeria has been fined $5.2bn by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the disconnection of 5.1-million of its subscribers, it said on Monday.
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MTN Group’s spokesperson, Chris Maroleng, declined to comment on the $5.2 billion fine.
The NCC had ordered all mobile phone companies to register their customers’ SIM cards by August or face sanctions.
Statistics from the NCC indicates that Nigeria, a country with estimated population of more than 170 million, has close to 150 million mobile phones.
The report detailed how MTN is facing a one trillion naira fine from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the alleged transgression, making it one of the biggest penalties ever for a telecommunications operator in West Africa.
TechCentral editor Duncan McLeod says the drop in shares would have been worse if MTN had not struck an agreement to negotiate with Nigerian authorities.
Nigeria is MTN’s largest and most profitable market. “We are law abiding and we have always done our business within the confine of the Acts”, he said.
BBC Abuja editor Bashir Sa’ad Abdullahi says a few Nigerians say they want the regulator to address poor network signals provided by telecoms companies in the country. The amount is even bigger than the entire budget of the Federal Government of Nigeria.
Though MTN has said it is working with the Nigerian regulator to resolve the matter, there is a concern with investors that the South African telco might have to cough up the full fine.
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MTN Headquarters in South Africa. Shortly after firming up the quantum of the fine, the share was trading down by more than 10% on the JSE. It said the matter had been directed to the Nigerian directorate of state security, the army and the presidency.
