MTN Nigeria has denied reaching final settlement with Nigerian authorities over the record fine imposed on it for failing to deactivate unregistered subscribers last year.
This followed media reports that the company has offered to pay N300 billion ($1.5 billion), according to a letter from the company’s lawyer released on Thursday.
Africa’s biggest wireless operator was fined N1.04 trillion in October 2015 by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) after failing to disconnect 5.1 million subscribers amid concerns the lines were being used by Boko Haram insurgents.
The fine that was later reduced to N780 billion following an appeal by MTN.
In the letter dated February 24, 2016, MTN proposed paying N100 billion in five annual instalments, buying N80 billion naira of Nigerian sovereign debt, and offering N70 billion worth of access to its fibre network.
A statement by PR and Protocol Manager, MTN Nigeria, Funso Aina, on Friday said the company is aware of the reports on the settlement negotiations.
It neither denied nor confirmed if an offer of N300 billion was made.
“The CEO of MTN, Ferdi Moolman, stated that the confidential negotiations are still very much ongoing with the (Nigerian) authorities to achieve an amicable resolution of the matter.
“Accordingly, no further comment can be made at this time,” the statement said.
Last month, the Johannesburg-based company paid N50 billion to kick off settlement negotiations.
The offer is in the “shared interest in the development of the country’s telecommunications sector and economy more generally,” according to the letter to the Nigerian government from MTN’s lawyer, former United States Attorney General Eric Holder.
Nigeria’s Senate Committee on Communications met on Thursday to discuss the fine, saying that negotiations with MTN are expected to continue for two more weeks.
The NCC handed down the penalty citing security concerns over the inability to trace users in the country facing frequent kidnappings and Boko Haram insurgency.
“You know how the unregistered GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) are being used by terrorists,” President Muhammadu Buhari said earlier this week in a meeting with South Africa President Jacob Zuma in Abuja.
“That was why NCC (Nigerian Communications Commission) asked the MTN, Glo and the rest of them to register GSM,” Buhari said.
“Unfortunately MTN was very slow and contributed to the casualties.”
