Nigeria telecommunication giant, MTN on Wednesday, withdrew its legal suit against the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, and paid the sum of N50 billion to settle out-of-court.The telecom giant withdrew the case at the Federal High Court in Lagos in response to a request by the NCC. Speaking on the withdrawal, the CEO of MTN Nigeria, Ferdi Moolman, said,
“This is a most encouraging development. It demonstrates a willingness and sincerity by both parties to work together towards a positive outcome.”
He further added that MTN paid N50bn to the federal government “as a gesture of good faith and commitment to continued efforts towards an amicable resolution.”
NCC had last year fined the telecom giant the sum of N1.04 trillion for failing to deactivate 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards and later reduced the amount to N780 billion after the first round of negotiations.
MTN, however, requested an out-of-court settlement late last year.