House of Representatives Committee on Telecommunications on Wednesday insisted that MTN must pay the N1. 04 trillion fine imposed on it by Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) for SIM deactivation default.
The NCC in October 2015 issued a landmark fine of N1.04 trillion against MTN Nigeria for failing to disconnect subscribers with unregistered and incomplete Subscriber Identification Modules (SIM) cards within the stipulated time.
The Chairman of the committee, Rep. Saheed Akinade-Fijabi (APC-Oyo State) said that the payment of the would redefine the relationship between telecommunications operators and the regulator.
He said the N50 billion paid by MTN as down payment for negotiations out of court was not adequate to make up for the firm’s activities which allegedly undermined government’s efforts in the fight against insecurity.
According to Akinade-Fijabi, the laws are there to serve as deterrents to people violating them.
He said “MTN has been trying to circumvent the process and find a way of running away from the law instead of facing the music.’’
A member of the committee, Rep. Johnson Agbonayinman (PDP-Edo) said that MTN violated sections 19 and 20 of the Telephone Subscribers Regulations under the Communications Act 2010.
“Any licensee who fails to capture, register, deregister or transmit the details of every individual or corporate subscriber to the central database is liable to a penalty of N200 000 for each subscription medium.
“Therefore MTN’s failure to deactivate 5.2 million SIM cards should be liable to a fine of N2.8 trillion,’’ Agbonayinman said.
However, the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the commission was committed to ensuring compliance by telecommunications operators to register all SIM cards in the country.
“SIM card registration is a continuous process.
“ There is ongoing registration by all operators and NCC will do enforcement checking to ensure compliance.’’
Meanwhile, he said that NCC was not in receipt of the N50 billion so far paid by MTN as it was not paid into its account.
“I do not know the account where the money was paid into.
“The commission only received a letter from the Attorney-General of the Federation indicating that MTN had paid the amount into the Federal Government Account,’’ he said.
