NCC Fines MTN Nigeria N1.04trn For SIM Deactivation Default

By Chima Akwaja
— Oct 26, 2015 4:14 am

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has issued a landmark fine of N1.04 trillion ($5.2bn) against MTN Nigeria, the largest mobile network operator in the country for failing to disconnect subscribers with unregistered and incomplete subscriber identification modules (SIM) cards within the stipulated time.

The fine which is the largest in the history of telecom infringements may redefine the relationships between telecommunications operators and the regulator. Technology Times which broke the story last night said NCC fined MTN Nigeria “for allegedly undermining efforts by the Nigerian government to tackle security challenges and the war on terror and allied crimes, as the telecoms operator has allegedly refused to deactivate unregistered mobile phone lines on its network”.

A top official of MTN Nigeria who is not authorised to speak on the matter however confirmed to LEADERSHIP that NCC truly issued the fine against MTN Nigeria. The official said “This fine is unprecedented in the history of Nigeria. The amount is even bigger than the entire budget of the Federal Government of Nigeria. It is enough to make the operator close its operations in the country.”

Another top telecom official in the industry also questioned the motive behind this gargantuan fine said the highest fine ever fined an operator in the country is N200 million. Last Thursday, MTN Group had announced that its Nigerian operation lost 5.1 million subscriber lines in the month of August to the deactivation of incomplete SIM registrations ordered by NCC. This has led to MTN cutting its full-year forecast for subscriber numbers.

Nik Kershaw, MTN Group spokesman confirmed that MTN Nigeria is also facing “ongoing regulatory restrictions” related to its market-leading position in Africa’s most populous country. About 3.4 million of the customers have been reconnected, the company said.

While the loss of Nigerian customers is a short-term setback, “it does point to a tough regulatory environment,” Steve Minnaar, a money-manager at Cape Town-based Abax Investment, said by phone according to agency reports. “They have been struggling with the regulator for many years in the Nigerian environment.”

Efforts to reach Mr. Tony Ojobo, director of Public Affairs NCC failed as calls to his phone line were not picked. LEADERSHIP learnt that MTN Nigeria will issue an official statement on the matter today (Monday).

In August, MTN, Airtel, Glo and Etisalat, the four leading mobile operators in the country took their subscribers by surprise deactivating all lines with unregistered or improperly registered mobile subscriber data on their networks. This has resulted in a deluge of crowds at the various services centres of the operators round the country.

Mr. Idehen Efosa, head of enforcement and monitory department of Nigerian Communications Commssions (NCC), the nation’s telecom regulator informed LEADERSHIP that out of the 37.79 million lines, Etisalat had 19.46 million improperly registered lines followed by MTN with 18.6 million lines. Airtel has 7.4 million lines while Glo has 2.33 million lines only.

The order to deactivate the lines followed a meeting between Office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Department of State Service (DSS), the network operators and the NCC to examine the security threats posed by unregistered SIMs. Thereafter, the NCC handed down a seven day ultimatum starting from August 4, 2015 to GSM operators to deactivate unregistered subscriber identification modules (SIMs) with invalidity status.

Source: http://leadership.ng/news/469815/ncc-fines-mtn-nigeria-n1-04trn-for-sim-deactivation-default

Was it NCC that caused us to undergo those stress or MTN ?
Ion even wanna know! but seriously, MTN is disappointing us...why na?
Even with all the free calls cheats, you guys need some upgrade.

My opinion on this...why is it that its MTN alone that is fined?
Largest customer I guess!

But mind you, any amount whatsoever she is charged, the customers
will surely be the one to pay for it...
NCC, please, easy on MTN!!!

Good riddance to bad rubbish, I guess.

Good!

Hope the NCC sees this through and doesn't just collect bribe and drop it.

If MTN likes, let them close their operations and go back to SA. creating another competitive market for others and new investors, this will also improve service quality. Who loses at the end?

Now u knw how it feels... When u pple illegally deduct money from our account balance and use all kind of tricks to force us to pay #50 for caller tunes... When we call ur customer care staffs, they will come up with the excuse that 'Sir/Ma, the deduction log has not been fully uploaded on our system, plz call back in the next 24hrs' and if u kall back, they will tell u dat u browsed with it even if u tell them that u ve an active data plan.... Or that u visited a site that was why the deduction was made... No matter what happend u guys will never return the said money...

This news has given me an early morning e.rection, not that they deactivated my line but b'cos of their incessant bombardment of unsolicited sms & telemarketing nonsense.

Kudos to NCC! Next should be Etisalat for their unsolicited nonsense calls.

Ncc we also need you to help us look into data consumption, abnormal calls charges , infringement of privacy with all these Isiah 48v3

Jonathanohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

This NCC sef is a scam.
Our network providers scam us, you fine them and still doesn't address the issue. All of you are same

Instead of the fine make NCC force dem 2 reduce data 2 like 5gig 4 N180.make dem pay d fine dat way

The subscribers will still suffer it at the end of everything.

donTbone:
Was it NCC that caused us to undergo those stress or MTN ?
Ion even wanna know! but seriously, MTN is disappointing us...why na?
Even with all the free calls cheats, you guys need some upgrade.

My opinion on this...why is it that its MTN alone that is fined?
Largest customer I guess!

But mind you, any amount whatsoever she is charged, the customers
will surely be the one to pay for it...
NCC, please, easy on MTN!!!

Its MTN that crated problem for their subscribers.

OBAGADAFFI:


Its MTN that crated problem for their subscribers.

How?
and if they did...how is it their fault?

A cheap way for NCC to get xmas bribe.

best news of the week if enforced.

It's time to pay back all the money they chopped through tricks from Nigeria.

Thank God!! This is a very good news to me, well I don't know about other people. I am just happy. This Mtn have sucked hell out of our money.

donTbone:

How?
and if they did...how is it their fault?

They were not properly registering their subscribers, until they started having issues with their database.

Glo, Etisalat and Airtel also did sim- reg.

OBAGADAFFI:


They were not properly registering their subscribers, until they started having issues with their database.

Glo, Etisalat and Airtel also did sim- reg.

How about the customer base...couldn't that have been the prob? and giving a week for
sim reg z too small faa!

donTbone:

How about the customer base...couldn't that have been the prob? and giving a week for
sim reg z too small faa!

SIM-REG is not week, the process started 2 years ago.

Good riddance to those fraudsters. They always devise the most impolite trick to steal from customers.

Time to pay back all the money fraudulently extorted from innocent Nigerians, especially in their early days

They should fine them the total net worth of the company sef I don't give a damm!