Posted on: 08:36 Thu, 29 Oct 2015



According to a report, Senior
executives at the company, who are
in Nigeria to meet with the regulator
to discuss the fine, will decide on
whether to make changes to senior
management, which is headed by
local Chief Executive Officer Michael
Ikpoki.

Nigeria’s telecommunications
regulator has fined South African
mobile giant MTN $5.2 billion for
missing a deadline to disconnect
unregistered SIM cards, the company
announced on Monday. The penalty
saw shares in Africa’s largest
telecommunications company crash
more than 12 percent to 167 rand on
the Johannesburg Stock Exchange,
the biggest fall the firm has suffered
in a day since November 1998.

This may not be unconnected with
the $5.2 billion to the telecom
operator by the country’s
telecommunications regulator for
failing to disconnect customers with
unregistered SIM cards, according to
a person familiar with the matter.

Meanwhile, Ikpoki and MTN’s main
spokesman at its head office in
Johannesburg, who were called to
confirm the development, declined
to comment on the matter, but the
spokeswoman for MTN Nigeria,
Chineze Gbenga-Oluwatoye, was
quoted as saying, ‘‘We know of no
such thing.

According to reports, MTN shares
have declined by about 19 percent
this week in Johannesburg, the
biggest three-day drop since 2008,
valuing the company at about 288
billion rand ($21 billion).

The Nigerian Communications
Commission (NCC) had at the
weekend slammed N1.4 trillion
penalty on the Nigerian largest
telecom operator for missing a
deadline to disconnect 5.1 million
subscribers.

The company’s stock was also said to
have declined 2.6 percent to 155.85
rand at the close of work yesterday,
the lowest since October 2012.

Source: Vanguard