Nigeria gives MTN two weeks to pay $5.2bn fine

Nigeria's telecoms regulator has given MTN Group two weeks to pay a $5.2 billion fine imposed on Africa's biggest mobile phone company for failure to cut off millions of users with unregistered SIM cards.

The fine imposed by the Nigerian Communications Commission  on the communication outfit led to about 20% drop in its stock during the week, though it bounced back to 2 percent by midday Friday.

The telecoms regulator said MTN failed to disconnect subscribers with unregistered or incomplete SIM cards, after ordering all network operators to do so. NCC said only MTN had failed to comply with the directive.

A confident source from NCC said the regulator's decision was based on advice from Nigeria's state security service, which suspected unregistered SIM cards were being used for criminal activity in a country facing Islamic militant group Boko Haram's insurgency.

The spokesman of NCC Tony Ojobo said Friday that MTN had until November 16 to pay up, but the two sides were in talks to resolve the matter.

“The outcome of the discussion may affect the date. That's why they are having the discussion so that they can reach a solution,” Ojobo said.

-Emmanuel Ikechukwu
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