Negotiations with MTN on the settlement of the $3.4billion fine is yet to commence as House of Representatives Committee on Communication continues investigations, Nigeria’s communication minister Adebayo Shittu said yesterday.
The MTN had initially paid N50billion deposit after it withdrew its litigation challenging the $3.4billion fine imposed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for not meeting a deadline to register over 5million customers.
Shittu who spoke while briefing journalists after the Federal Executive Council meeting said “the N50bn MTN paid was to demonstrate willingness for out of court settlement
“Negotiations have not yet commenced and the N50bn which was paid may eventually form part of the payments. But the understanding is that it is a sign of an act of good faith that indeed they wanted out of court settlement”.
The crisis between the FG and MTN began in October last year when the NCC slammed a N1.04 trillion (about $5.2 billion) fine on MTN for failure to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered subscribers’ SIM cards from its network.
Shortly after the announcement of the fine, MTN claimed it had secured a 35 per cent reduction, equivalent to N647 billion (about $3.4 billion) from the NCC.
NCC had blamed typographic error in its letter to the operator, saying the actual reduction was by 25 per cent (N780 billion).
As the December 31, 2015 deadline for the payment of the fine elapsed, the Minister of Communications, claimed the final decision on the matter rests on the Presidency, clearly ignoring his role as the head of the supervising ministry.
MTN had subsequently sued the FG and later opted for out of court settlement. They had also gone ahead to make a N50billion commitment while asking for a reduction of the fine.
The communications minister also told journalists that the FEC considered a memo on the approval of the final Acts and instruments amending the International Telecoms Radio Regulations.
FEC reviewed Nigeria’s participation at the World Radio Communication and International Telecommunications Union, (ITU) meeting that held in December last year. It lauded the fact that in the 150 years existence of the ITU, an African and indeed a Nigerian, Festus Dawudu, emerged as the Chairman.
