Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the nation’s telecommunications regulator, has issued mobile phone firm MTN Nigeria, with a $5bn (£3.5bn) fine for failing to disconnect subscribers with unregistered Sim cards bought before January 2012.
From that date anyone buying a Sim card in Nigeria has had to register it under their name by law.
Phone companies were told to register their existing customers’ Sim cards, which MTN Nigeria – the biggest telecommunications firm in Nigeria – has failed to do, reports the BBC.
The fine is the largest in the history of telecom infringements in Nigeria and may redefine the relationships between telecommunications operators and the regulator.
Nigerians continue to complain about poor services from mobile network operators and blame the regulators for not doing enough to solve the problem.
A senior executive at MTN Nigeria said that the company will issue a statement on the fine later today.
Meanwhile, Shares in South Africa’s MTN dropped more than 5 percent on Monday after reports in Nigeria said the mobile phone firm’s Nigerian unit could face a fine of as much as $5.2 billion, traders said.
MTN declined to comment on the matter.
“The report is definitely the reason why it is moving. We just don’t know how credible it is,” said Petri Redelinghuys, a trader at Inkhunzi Investments in Johannesburg.
A second trader confirmed the share was falling as a result of the report.
Chris Maroleng, the Johannesburg-based spokesman for Africa’s largest mobile operator, declined to comment.
MTN was trading 5.32 percent at 180.80 rand by 1109 GMT.
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