The Nigerian Communications Commission confirmed the penalty based on 200,000 naira ($1,000) for each of 5.1 million cellphone SIM cards that had not been registered and should have been disconnected by an August deadline.
On Aug. 7, the commission issued an
ultimatum ordering all cellphone providers to de-activate unregistered cards
within seven days "or face severe sanctions." All the other cellphone
companies in Nigeria complied, the commission said.
The South African company said in a statement Monday that it is in talks
with Nigeria's regulatory body "to resolve the matter."
The $5.2 billion fine is equivalent to
at least two average years' profit for MTN Nigeria and nearly three times the
$1.8 billion that it has invested in the West African country, according to the
company's website. Africa's leading cellphone service provider, MTN paid $285
million for one of four GSM licenses in Nigeria in 2001.
Before the cut, MTN said it had about
62 million customers among Nigeria's 170 million people in September, by far
the group's biggest market.
Nigeria has about 150 million active
mobile phone lines, 90 million mobile Internet users and imports 4 million
cellphones each month, according to Nigeria's Federal Ministry of
Communications.
Culled from AP
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