Telecoms giant, MTN, did not pay the N780billion fine imposed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the expiration of a December 31, 2015 deadline.
NCC said on Thursday that it was expecting MTN to meet the deadline for paying the record $3.9 billion fine despite the South African operator challenging the penalty in court.
The country’s telecoms regulator, had in October fined the firm for missing a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards, citing security concerns in a country plagued by frequent kidnappings and an extremist Islamist insurgency Boko Haram.
It imposed a whopping N1.04trillion fine, later reduced to N780billion following an appeal by MTN.
Spokesman for the company, Funso Aina, told Punch that since the matter was in court, there was a limit to the comments that could be made on it.
He said, “Suffice it to say that based on the lis pendens rule (pending legal action), all parties are enjoined to restrain from taking further action until the matter is finally determined. This is consistent with previous judicial decisions in Nigeria.”
Mr Aina however said “we would continue to engage with the Nigerian authorities to try and ensure an amicable resolution in the best interest of the company, its stakeholders and the Nigerian authorities.”
Spokesman to the Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, Victor Oluwadamilare, had earlier told AFP “If MTN fails to meet the deadline today (Thursday), the regulatory body will enforce the fine.”
Mr Oluwadamilare said the pending legal proceedings had nothing to do with the payment deadline, saying “the court case is not tantamount to extending the deadline.”
While expecting all parties to restrain from taking further action until the case is concluded, Aina said “We urge our customers not to panic as we do not envisage any disruption to our operations.”
Nigeria’s four major phone companies have routinely been fined in the past for regulatory infractions but none has received as big a punishment as MTN.
The initial fine was more than MTN’s total sales in Nigeria in 2014 and the equivalent of about 37 percent of the Johannesburg-based group’s total revenue, according to Bloomberg News.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country of 170 million people, is MTN group’s largest market with 62.8 million subscribers.
It operates in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East.
