"Pay N780billion Fine By 31st December" - NCC To MTN Nigeria

Despite a suit in court, the Federal Government
yesterday insisted that mobile giant MTN must pay the
N780billion fine imposed on it by the Nigerian
Communications Commission (NCC) latest tomorrow.
The government has also engaged a five-man team of
Senior Advocates to defend the sanction in court.
The Ministry of Communications made the
clarifications against the backdrop of fears of whether
or not the government will stay action on the imposition
of the fine.
MTN was punished for managing improperly registered
5.2m Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) Cards.
A top official said: “The fact that MTN has gone to
court does not amount to a stay of the fine. We have
not got any order restraining the Federal Government
from collecting the fine.
“An application before a court does not amount to the
nullification of the sanction or a stay of action.”
The Special Assistant to the Minister of
Communications, Victor Oluwadamilare, who spoke
exclusively with our correspondent, said there was no
going back on the deadline.
He said the government will enforce the fine by
December 31st.
He said: “Sequel to the suit filed by MTN, a team of
very senior eminent lawyers has been put together to
defend the interest of the Federal Government. I have
on good authority that the lawyers have filed an
objection to the MTN suit on diverse grounds.
“The suit is however without prejudice to the powers of
NCC to enforce the fine clamped on MTN in line with
the relevant provisions of the NCC Act.
“If ex-President Goodluck Jonathan had tackled the
hydra-headed corruption monster and crass
inefficiency in all spheres of governance like President
Muhammadu Buhari is presently doing, the MTN saga
would not have happened, not to talk of MTN’s
audacity to go to court over a clear case of gross
misconduct of trading 5.2million lines illegally in clear
contravention of NCC’s guidelines.
“It seems that the MTN is still under the illusion of the
permissible era of the Jonathan’s administration where
anything goes. President Buhari’s government remains
a purposeful and result-driven administration that
brooks no nonsense and will not tolerate underhand
manoeuvres.
“The leadership of the Communication sector under
Minister Adebayo Shittu, whose character and integrity
are impregnable, has remained focussed to ensure
things are done differently for the country to achieve
unprecedented success as envisioned by President
Buhari.
“This will serve as deterrent to other telecoms
operators in Nigeria. Nigerians are tired of poor
service, Nigerians deserve the best and we will stop at
nothing to do that.”
The NCC explained how MTN committed infractions
and its neglect of warnings.
It said: “The fine that was imposed on MTN was the
second within two months after the operators were
given a seven-day ultimatum to deactivate all
unregistered and improperly registered Subscriber
Identification Module (SIM) Cards. While others
complied, MTN did not.
“On August 4, 2015, at a meeting of all the
representatives of the Mobile Network Operators
(MNO), with NCC, major security challenges through
preregistered, unregistered and improperly registered
SIM Cards topped the agenda after which Operators
were given the ultimatum to deactivate such within
seven days.
“On August 14, 2015, three days after the ultimatum
expired, NCC carried out a network audit, while other
Operators complied with the directive, to deactivate the
improperly registered SIM Cards, MTN showed no sign
of compliance at all.
“Please recall that four (4) Operators; MTN, Airtel,
Globacom and Etisalat, were sanctioned in August for
non compliance of the directive to deactivate the
improperly registered SIM Cards. MTN got a fine of
N102.2million, Globacom N7.4million, Etisalat
N7million and Airtel N3.8million fine. Others complied
while MTN flouted the fine.
“Based on the report of the compliance Audit Team, an
Enforcement Team which visited MTN from September
2 – 4, 2015 wherein MTN admitted that the Team
confirmed that 5.2million improperly registered SIM
Cards were still left active on their network; hence, a
contravention of the regulations was established.
“Consistent with the Commission’s enforcement
process, MTN was, by a letter dated October 5, 2015,
given notice to state why it should not be sanctioned in
line with the Regulations for failure to deactivate
improperly registered SIM Cards that were found to be
active at the time of enforcement team’s visit of
September 15, 2015.
“On October 19, 2015, the Commission received and
reviewed MTN’s response and found no convincing
evidence why it should not be sanctioned for the
established violations.
“Accordingly, by a letter dated October 20, 2015 the
Commission conveyed appropriate sanctions to MTN in
accordance with Regulations 20(1) of the Telephone
Subscribers Registration Regulation 2011, to pay the
Sum of N200,000.00 only for each of the 5.2million
improperly registered SIM Cards.”
The statement said all stakeholders in the industry
were part of the registration of telephone subscribers in
Nigeria.
It said: “In order to ensure proper identification of
telephone subscribers with their biometric data and in
line with international best practice, the Commission
came up with a framework for the registration of
telephone subscribers in Nigeria. (Nigerian
Communications Commission Registration of
Telephone Subscribers Regulations 2011).
“The above Regulations were developed with the full
participation of all key industry stakeholders, including
all Mobile Network Operators (MNO) in 2011.
“The Commission on its part has a statutory
responsibility to monitor and enforce compliance to the
rules. More so, when national security is at stake.”
The statement explained that National interest is
paramount because when lives are lost they cannot be
replaced.
“As a responsible Regulator, the NCC will not stand by
and watch Rules and Regulations for Engagement being
flouted by any Operator.
“The Commission has adopted a smart regulation in its
oversight function in the industry, hence it has always
weighed the implications of sanctions, that is why it
had to place the appropriate sanction accordingly.”
The NCC statement further said that sanctions are the
last resort after all overtures fail but this does not in
any way undermine Industry Standards and the interest
of Investors.