According to Bloomberg, MTN Group’s share price dropped by 12% in one day on account of the news that the Nigerian entity was fined $5.2 billion failing to disconnect customers with unregistered SIM cards
Nigeria woke up to the breaking news from Technology Times that MTN was fined the biggest amount in the history of mobile telecoms in Nigeria.
According to MTN in a statement today, the penalty relates to the timing of the disconnection of 5.1 million MTN Nigeria subscribers in August and September and is based on a fine of 200,000 naira ($1,005) for each unregistered subscriber. The company however said that “MTN Nigeria is in talks with the Nigerian Communications Commission to resolve the matter”
“We acted within our mandate as a regulator,” Tony Ojobo, head of public affairs at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), said by phone to Bloomberg. “It is only MTN for which we have been able to establish clear infractions. 5.2 million SIMs had to be forcefully disconnected by the NCC.”
The NCC had ordered all mobile phone companies to register their customers’ SIM cards by August or face sanctions.
MTN currently has about 233 million customers in 22 countries in the Middle East and Africa.
