The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has confirmed it has received invitations to enter into talks with telecommunications operator, MTN in order to reach an “amicable” out-of-court settlement over the $3.9-billion fine imposed on the operator.
Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, who said this at an international press conference in Lagos, Wednesday, added that the commission may consider MTN Nigeria plea to settle its dispute out of court.
Such talks would raise the likelihood of an end to a standoff between Africa’s biggest cellular network operator and the continent’s biggest economy which has been dragging on for three months.
“Our lawyers communicated to us that indeed MTN is resorting to a settlement out of court,” Nigerian Communications Commission executive vice-chairman Umar Garba Danbatta said.
“They [MTN] are trying to get this settled amicably.
“We have been, since then, informed by our own counsel that the judge has granted the request for a settlement,” said Danbatta.
He gave no details but said the Communications Commission was also willing to settle “amicably”.
“The intention is not to kill MTN. We would like the industry to continue. We would like it to be vibrant and I think this is a matter that needs to be resolved amicably and we are working towards that,” he said.
“The intention is not to kill MTN because we would like the industry to continue. We would like it to be vibrant and I think this is a matter that needs to be resolved amicably and we are working towards that”, he said.
It would be recalled that NCC, had fined MTN $5.2 billion in October, 2015 for failing to disconnect users with unregistered SIM cards by a set date.
After weeks of talks with MTN, which makes about 37 per cent of its revenue from Nigeria, the fine was slashed by 25 per cent or N780 billion.
