5 Reasons MTN May Not Be Paying The $3.9 Billion NCC Fine

NCC had in October sanctioned the South Africa owned telecommunications company, MTN Nigeria, for allegedly failing to disconnect unregistered subscribers.

The initial fine of $5.2 billion was reduced by 25 per cent to $3.9 billion earlier this month, with a December 31 payment deadline. But  now MTN, through its lawyers led by a former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), is challenging NCC’s powers to impose the fine.

See the arguments it has placed in its favour:

1. It argued that NCC, being a regulator, could not assume all the functions of the state. The commission could not make the regulation, prescribe the penalty and impose the fine payable to it and not to the Federal Government. It accused the regulatory agency of acting as a legislator, executor, accuser, prosecutor, judge and beneficiary of the penalty.

2. The firm alleged that it was not afforded its constitutional right to fair hearing before a court of competent jurisdiction. It maintained that it had not been found guilty of any offence that would warrant it to pay such a fine.

3. According to MTN, the deadline of seven days to disconnect 5.2 million subscribers was grossly inadequate and impracticable. The deadline was unfair and ran contrary to the requirement to give adequate notice to the subscribers to update their records.

4. NCC’s N200,000 per SIM sanction was excessive, being the highest fine ever imposed on a telecommunications company in the world.

5. Sani, in his suit, among others, argued that it was illegal for NCC to impose a fine of N200,000 per contravention on any of the four mobile telecommunication companies operating in the country for any breach of its regulations.

The suit has as defendants NCC, MTN, Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services Limited (Etisalat Nigeria Limited), Globacom Limited and Airtel Networks Limited.

The post 5 Reasons MTN May Not Be Paying The $3.9 Billion NCC Fine appeared first on KokoFeed - Nigerian News For The Young Generation.

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