N1.04 Trillion Fine: NCC Suspends Regulatory Services To MTN

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has
fined MTN Nigeria N1.04 trillion for alleged breach of
subscriber identity module (SIM) registration rules. MTN
allegedly pre-registered SIM cards in its systems which
made it impossible to verify the personal details of
subscribers, thereby compromising national security.

NCC Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, said MTN was
discovered to be harbouring about 5.2million defective SIM
cards on its network which it failed to deactivate.
President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria
(ATCON), Lanre Ajayi, described the fine as
“inappropriate”, noting that a fine should measure up to the
offence.
Last month, NCC sanctioned the four leading telecom
operators including MTN for having pre-registered SIM
cards in their systems. Others are Airtel Nigeria, Globacom
Nigeria and Etisalat Nigeria which along with MTN were
asked to pay N120.4 million for failing to fully comply with
the commission’s directive to deactivate pre-registered
and defective customer SIM cards.
While MTN, which controls over 62 million subscribers, was
asked to pay N102.2 million then; Globacom was slammed
with N7.4 million; Etisalat N7 million and Airtel N3.8
million. NCC insists that the practice of using biometrics
for SIM card verification not only works as a proof of
ownership credential, but it also creates a sense of
accountability among SIM card owners to not use their
mobile phones in any kind of criminal activities.
Justifying the imposition of the first fine, `Ojobo had said
since 2012, the telcos had been directed to correct the
anomalies discovered on the biometric data of the SIM
cards purportedly registered by the telcos and shipped to
the regulator for safe-keeping but they had continued to
vacillate.
He said the insistence that all improperly registered SIM
cards be deactivated was informed by the security
situation in the country, adding that all the security
agencies in the country were carried along in the decision
to deactivate all defectively registered SIM cards.
MTN: WE ARE ENGAGING NCC
MTN Nigeria last night spoke on the fine, promising to
resolve the matter with NCC.
In an electronic mail titled:
MTN Engages NCC over SIM registration Sanctions, the
telco yesterday wrote: “Leading ICT Company in Nigeria,
MTNconfirmed that the NCC has imposed a N1.4 trillion
fine ($5.2billion) on MTN Nigeria.
“This fine relates to the timing of the disconnection of the
5.1million MTN subscribers that were disconnected in
August and September 2015 and is based on a N200,000
fine for each improperly registered subscriber.
“MTN Nigeria is currently engaging with the NCC to resolve
the matter.”