The Nigerian Communications Commission on Friday said the fine of N1.04tn imposed on the MTN Group was reduced by 25 per cent, and not 35 per cent as initially stated. The company will now have to pay N780bn and not N647bn, the NCC said. The commission’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr. Tony Ojobo, admitted that there was an error in the initial letter it sent to MTN, saying that it was a quarter (25 per cent) of the fine that the Presidency agreed should be cut off due to diplomatic intervention. Speaking at a post-event interview in Lagos, he said:
“When the error was discovered, we had to quickly communicate MTN about the error.”
Ojobo said MTN was not marked out for punishment, noting that the NCC had only applied the “carrot and stick’ approach. He said:
“There was an error, which has been communicated to MTN. It was not 35 per cent but 25 per cent, which was what the Presidency approved. MTN was not single-handedly marked out for punishment. They faulted where others did not. It was a carrot and stick approach. The carrot was the 25 per cent slash and stick was the sanction.”
The NCC director said no one expected any of the operators to default on the regulation because in 2011 when the regulation around Subscriber Identity Module card was made, they were all aware and pledged to abide by the rules. He said:
“So it came as a shock to us when after sanctioning all the operators earlier in July, where MTN paid N120m for SIM card infractions, they still went ahead to as far as leaving 5.1 million defective SIMs on their network. That obviously warranted more sanctions.”
Ojobo, who stated that a “breach is a breach” regardless of the amount, said it signified that it was no longer business as usual in Nigeria. He said the operating environment must be sanitised for more investments. On possible reduction of the N780bn fine should MTN make further appeal considering the December 31 deadline, Ojobo said the fine from the sanctions was to be paid at once.
However, the MTN Group Public Affairs Director, Chris Maroleng, has reacted to the latest development from the NCC. He said on December 3, 2015 shareholders were informed that MTN had received a formal letter dated December 2, 2015 from the NCC informing the company that, after considering the company’s request, it had taken the decision to reduce the fine imposed on the MTN Nigerian business.
Maroleng said that, from the letter, the fine was reduced from the original N1.04tn to N674bn, which had to be paid by December 31, 2015. He said in a statement:
“Late on December 3, 2015, the day after receipt of the first letter, the company received a further letter from the NCC dated December 3, 2015 (the second letter). The second letter, which was stated to supersede the first letter, informed the company that the fine had actually been reduced by 25 per cent to N780bn and not by 35 per cent to N674bn, as was stated in the first letter. The payment date remained December 31, 2015. Neither the first letter nor the second letter set out any details on how the reduction was determined.”
Maroleng said the company was carefully considering the two letters, adding that “the Executive Chairman, Phuthuma Nhleko, will immediately re-engage with the Nigerian authorities before responding formally.”
“Shareholders are therefore advised to continue to exercise caution when dealing in the company’s securities until a further announcement is made,” he added.