Nigeria agreed to cut a fine, imposed on South Africa’s MTN for failing to disconnect unregistered users, after the firm threatened to pull out of the West African nation, a government official said on Friday.
“The Nigerian government had to listen and yield to the plea of MTN to reduce the fine because the company said paying the fine in full will ground to a halt its operations in Nigeria,” the official said, asking not to be named.
The fine of $1.67 billion will be paid over three years and is only around a third of the $5.2 billion figure initially demanded by Nigeria last October.
“The present administration does not want to ground the operations of any investor in Nigeria,” he said, in the first government reaction.
Reuters
