Reps, MTN set for renewed clash
– MTN $5.2billion fine for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered SIM card users is assessed by Nigerian lawmakers
– Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma (Edo Central) asks for the MTN fine to be more than tripled to $15.6 billion
– MTN snubs telecom committee
The House of Representatives has launched a probe into whether telecoms regulator, Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) can reduce a $5.2billion fine slapped on South Africa’s MTN for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered SIM card users, a lawmaker said on Thursday, March 24.
The fine which was imposed in October last year was later reduced to $3.9 billion in December after appeals and diplomatic intervention.
However, the lawmakers believe the initial fine was not properly determined as stipulated by law.
“For you to adjust the fine, you have to adjust the law, that is where I am finding difficulty,” Speaker of the House of Representatives Yakubu Dogara said.
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Dogara and the rest of the House believe the reduction of the fine was a flagrant breach of the law, Africareview.com reports.
Subsequently, the House launched a probe after lawmaker Ehiozuwa Agbonayinma (Edo Central) asked, in a motion read out by Dogara, for the MTN fine to be more than tripled to $15.6 billion.
He pointed out that the NCC regulations prescribed that “any licensee who failed to capture, register, deregister or transmit the details of any individual or corporate subscribers to the central database as specified is liable to a penalty of N200,000 for each subscriber medium.”
The regulations also say that “a licensee who activates any subscription medium without capturing, registering and transmitting the personal information to the central database commits an offence and shall on conviction be liable to a fine of N200,000 for each unregistered activated subscription medium.’’
The House of Reps has launched a probe into whether telecoms regulator NCC can reduce a $.5.2billion fine slapped on South Africa’s MTN for missing a deadline to disconnect unregistered SIM card users
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Agbonayinma added that MTN should also face criminal charges.
According to him, the firm’s failure to disconnect users SIM cards led to the death of over 10,000 Nigerians as criminals had used the unregistered cards.
The motion from Agbonayinma comes after the MTN snubbed an invitation to its Nigeria Chief Executive Ferdi Moolman to appear at the telecoms committee.
It was learnt that instead of sending Moolman, MTN issued a letter telling lawmakers “appropriate government agencies are in a position to furnish your committee with relevant information on this issue.”
Last year Nigeria imposed a deadline on mobile operators to cut off unregistered SIM cards, amid fears the lines were being used by criminal gangs, including militant Islamist group Boko Haram.
But MTN with nearly 70 million subscribers and makes about 37% of its sales in Nigeria, missed this deadline.
What ensued was a $5.2billion fine from NCC which had prompted MTN’s decision to go to court.
But earlier this month, the telecom giants offered to pay $1.5 billion and dropped a legal case against the regulator as the first step in its efforts to reach an out of court settlement.
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