MTN Group\u00a0will challenge a $3.9bn\u00a0Nigerian fine in court after resolving that the penalty that\u2019s wiped 28% off the company\u2019s value wasn\u2019t within the powers of the country\u2019s telecommunications regulator to impose.<\/p>\n
[contextly_sidebar id=”TmrPZIa4ZSwIbuq8ec8uiBqUo5WnkVxt”]Africa\u2019s biggest phone company will also continue to engage with the Nigerian authorities to try and ensure an amicable resolution, MTN said in a statement on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Pending the court hearing, neither party should take further action until the matter is resolved, the company said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are valid grounds upon which to challenge the fine,\u201d MTN said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccordingly MTN has followed due process and has instructed its lawyers to proceed with an action in the Federal High Court in Lagos seeking the appropriate reliefs.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nigerian Communications Regulator imposed the penalty on MTN for failing to meet a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million unregistered subscribers as security agencies seek to fight crime in a country with poor identity records.<\/p>\n
Chairperson Phuthuma Nhleko is leading negotiations with the NCC after Chief Executive Officer Sifiso Dabengwa resigned.<\/p>\n
The initial fine of $5.2bn was reduced by 25% to $3.9bn earlier this month, with a payment deadline set for December 31.<\/p>\n
NCC spokesperson Tony Ojobo declined to comment on MTN\u2019s plan to challenge the fine.<\/p>\n
MTN shares gained 6.3% to R138.20 rand at the close in Johannesburg, the highest since December 3. That values the company at R255bn.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n
Credit:\u00a0 News24<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MTN Group\u00a0will challenge a $3.9bn\u00a0Nigerian fine in court after resolving that the penalty that\u2019s wiped 28% off the company\u2019s value wasn\u2019t within the powers of the country\u2019s telecommunications regulator to impose. [contextly_sidebar id=”TmrPZIa4ZSwIbuq8ec8uiBqUo5WnkVxt”]Africa\u2019s biggest phone company will also continue to engage with the Nigerian authorities to try and ensure an amicable resolution, MTN said in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":93910,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[20,4],"class_list":["post-175322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-mental-health-authority","tag-st-augustines-college"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=175322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/93910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=175322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=175322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=175322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}