Telecom giant MTN Nigeria has been fined a record $5.2bn by Nigeria’s Communications Commission (NCC).
MTN was fined for non-compliance with a deadline set by the NCC to disconnect all non-registered sim cards.The move follows accusations by mobile phone users that the regulator had failed to bring operators to account for poor services to subscribers.
MTN Nigeria allegedly disobeyed directives by the NCC to deactivate unregistered mobile phones, which subsequently opened the country to “grave security threats”.
The fine is reportedly the largest ever in the history of Nigerian telecoms.
MTN Group announced in a trading statement last week that its Nigerian operation lost 5.1 million subscriber lines in August due to the deactivation of incomplete SIM registrations ordered by NCC.
Shortly after 14:00, MTN’s share price declined 4.28% to trade at R182.67 on the JSE.
BBC Abuja editor Bashir Sa’ad Abdullahi says some Nigerians say they want the regulator to address poor network signals provided by telecoms companies in the country.
They want more sanctions on firms to encourage them to improve signals and the quality of service in the country, he says.
Statistics from the NCC indicates that Nigeria, a country with an estimated population of more than 170 million, has almost 150 million mobile phones.
Source BBC,NTT
Civilised people at work. not here in Zambia when you try to enforce laws even tuntemba NGOs will condemn the move . Even if they don’t understand how it suppose to be they will just yaping Government is chase investors , they are mistreating investors what they want is to show their donors that they are working. including the Opposition political parties . sometime I do wonder how some political parties will work or govern the country with out laws and regulations if it happens to be elected in power.
Be specific by saying when such happens is Zambia, HH will issue a statement saying how much jobs will be lost, economic this economic that, etc and end by saying the UPND Government will blah blah blah
exactly, and if we are as serious as we claim to be, ZamBeef would have been history by now.
That can pay off part of Zambia’s debt. Instead of fining KCM, PF is getting $25m loan from India. Shame.
the same chaps who are plundering our economy through kcm…
how sad.
Nigerians have to be saluted, they are the proudest nationalist people in Africa, no forigne companies mess with Nigerians in their country. When they say jump, they have to jump.
In Zambia, this money would not go to the Treasury.
Yet in Zambia the regulator is toothless and a laughing stoke…they have no stomach to take on the cartel of Network Providers who are fleecing subscribers shambolic services at high tariffs.