The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Tuesday confirmed that MTN has paid N275 billion SIM infraction fine. The final amount left to be paid that is N55 billion is due at the end of the month reported Reuters.
“Following a negotiated reduction of the N1.04tn fine on MTN Nigeria to N330bn and in line with the staggered payment arrangement, MTN has, so far, paid N275bn to the Federal Government,” the NCC noted in a statement.
The regulatory body imposed fine on the African telecommunications giant on October 20, 2015, over their failure to deactivate 5 million unregistered SIM cards. The company’s act infracted the provision of the NCC Telephone Subscribers Registration Regulations 2011.
MTN Nigeria was originally fined 1.04 trillion naira, but it negotiated a reduced fine after a series of diplomatic negotiations. The fine was agreed to be paid over a span of three years on the terms that MTN enlists on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
The first payment of N33 billion was made on March 31, 2017, while the second tranche was paid last year. The telecom firm has also fulfilled his part by listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange.
Last week, the company’s shares began trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in Lagos in a 2 trillion naira flotation that marked the exchange’s second-largest stock by market value.
While investors are complaining of a lack of shares to trade, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday said that MTN had not contravened any of its listing rules. However, it said that there had been a “paucity” of MTN shares to trade in Lagos since the listing.
According to the NSE, since the listing, more than 105 million MTN Nigeria shares valued at 12 billion naira had been traded on the bourse by ten firms in 134 cross deals.
