N780bn Fine: MTN Calls FG’s Bluff

As the deadline of December 31, 2015 passes, MTN Nigeria has declared that it has no intention of paying the N780bn fine imposed on it by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC). Instead, Nigeria’s leading GSM operator insisted that its court action challenging the fine will run its full course.

It would be recalled that MTN recently went to court to challenge the fine slammed on it by the NCC for allowing over five million unregistered SIM cards on its network.

Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Adebayo Shittu, agrees that the matter be put aside pending the final outcome of the court case. He said: “We cannot insist on MTN paying the fine, because the matter is already in court”.