President Buhari Slashes MTN's N1.04 trillion Fine to N674 billion

ABUJA – President Muhammadu Buhari yesterday gave some relief to MTN Nigeria as he slashed the N1.04 billion fine placed on the telecommunication giant by the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) to N647 billion.

The South African firm will now pay N674 billion on or before December 31. The telco got the NCC knock for keeping some 5.2 million pre-registered SIM cards running on its network, contrary to a directive from the regulator that all operators should deactivate such SIMs on their networks.

Heightening security concerns forced the regulator to issue the directive.

The relief came on a day MTN’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in Nigeria, Michael Ikpoki and its Head of Regulatory & Corporate Affairs, Akinwale Goodluck, resigned their appointments with the embattled carrier.

The $5.2 billion fine had earlier consumed the company’s Group Chief Executive, Sifiso Dabengwa, who resigned shortly after the NCC hammer hit the telco. Pressure was subsequently mounted on Ikpoki to resign his appointment, failing which he would be risking being kicked out. He was replaced by Ferdi Moolman as MTN Nigeria CEO, while Amina Oyagbola has taken over from Goodluck as Head of Regulatory & Corporate Affairs.

The telco, however, appointed a Nigerian, Karl Toriola, Vice President, West and Central Africa (WECA) Region.  Based in Nigeria, Toriola has worked with MTN for 10 years, having held senior operational roles at MTN Group and MTN Iran. He was formerly the Chief Technology Officer at MTN Nigeria and CEO at MTN Cameroon.

It was learnt yesterday that MTN has received a formal letter on Wednesday from MTN Group Corporate Affairs said yesterday, informing the company that, after considering the company’s request, it has taken the decision to reduce the fine on the MTN Nigerian business from the original N1, 04 trillion to N674 billion, which has to be paid by 31 December 31.  The fine has to do with the late disconnection of 5.1 million MTN Nigerian subscribers in August and September 2015.

Source: The Nation Newspaper.