MTN N1.04trn Fine: Court Refuses To Stop NCC As Deadline Expires Today

Justice Mohammed Idris of the Federal High Court in Lagos has refused to grant an exparte application filed by a Lagos-based lawyer, Oluyinka Oyeniji, seeking to restrain the Nigeria Communication Commission (NCC) from enforcing the N1.04 trillion sanctions it imposed MTN Nigeria Ltd.

The judge instead directed the lawyer to put the regulatory body on notice by serving them all the processes filed in the suit, so that it can respond to them.

Oyeniji told the court he instituted the suit on behalf of himself and millions of other MTN subscribers because of NCC’s plan to deactivate millions of MTN subscribers’ lines because the telecommunication company has failed to pay the N1.04 trillion fine slammed on it for unethical practice.

In the motion exparte refused by the court, the lawyer had sought an order of interim injunction restraining the first respondent (NCC) from enforcing any sanctions on the second respondent (MTN), especially on the sum of N1.04 trillion or any sum relating to compliance over subscribers’ deactivation, pending the determination of the motion on notice.

He had further prayed for an order of interim injunction restraining MTN from making any payments regarding the N1.04 trillion penalty imposed upon it by the NCC pending the determination of the motion on notice.

Oyeniji had also urged the court for an order directing parties to maintain the status quo pending the argument of the motion on notice.

He also sought an order mandating NCC to tender documentary evidence of accounts to justify the fines imposed MTN as well as other telecommunication operators including the appropriation and disbursement thereof, from 2002 till date, in accordance with Order 44 Rule 4 of the Civil Procedure Rules, 2009.

The lawyer further wanted the court to grant leave to the applicant for the originating processes to be served outside the jurisdiction of the court on the second respondent and for such processes to be marked “concurrent.”

The motion was supported by a 24-paragraph affidavit.

When the case came up for hearing on Friday, counsel to the applicant, Yemi Salma, urged the court to grant the exparte order, stating that a national newspaper (not LEADERSHIP) had reported that the regulatory body would carry out the sanction on Monday (today) and thus would adversely affect millions of subscribers.

However, Justice Idris in his ruling noted that the newspaper publication was speculative and that it could not be tendered as evidence before the court.

The judge therefore threw out the interim order but granted the order seeking to serve the respondents outside the jurisdiction of the court.

The court adjourned the matter till November 19 for the hearing of the motion on notice.



Firm denies seeking to pay by instalments

Meanwhile, MTN has denied asking Nigeria to allow it to pay the N1.04 trillion ($5.2 billion) fine by instalments. The deadline expires today.

A source at the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had told Reuters that the telecom giant had appealed for staggered payment of the fine.

The source had claimed that the government was considering the request, which he said was made at a meeting on Friday between MTN and high-level government officials, and that the decision would be disclosed today.

MTN spokesman Chris Maroleng was quoted to have said: “We are waiting for authorities to come back to us.”

The NCC slammed the fine on MTN last month for its failure to cut off 5.2 million unregistered SIM cards.

Nigeria has been pushing telecommunication operators to verify the identity of subscribers due to concerns that unregistered SIM cards are being used for criminal activity or even by Boko Haram militants waging an Islamist insurgency in the northeast.

“At the meeting, MTN pleaded passionately for staggered payments since the option of reduction of the fine had been ruled out,” the NCC source said.

A source familiar with the discussions said that an eleventh-hour reduction of the fine could still happen.

“Until the final announcement is made, there may be some room for manoeuvres,” the source said.

Spokesmen for Nigeria’s presidency and communications ministry declined to comment.

The fine, if fully enforced, amounts to more than the past two years’ profit for MTN in its biggest market. The new communications minister, Adebayo Shittu, told Reuters on Friday the government did not want MTN “to die” or shut down operations as a result of the penalty.

The fine is based on $1,000 per unregistered SIM card, as stipulated by Nigerian telecommunications laws.

Nigeria accounts for 37 per cent of revenues for MTN, which operates in more than 20 countries in Africa and the Middle East. Since the announcement of the fine, the firm’s shares have lost nearly 25 per cent of their value.



Telecom stakeholders oppose NBC’s secret move to sale Nigeria’s 700MHz spectrum

Stakeholders in the telecommunications and broadcast sector have rejected what they describe as “irregular acquisitions” of Nigeria’s 700MHz spectrum through the National Broadcasting Commission (NBC).

They stakeholders also raised the alarm over the looming threat of a South African “ambush” of the digital signal broadcasting network scheduled for launch in June 2017.

Addressing journalists in Kaduna, one of the stakeholders, Chief Abel Danladi, revealed that the NBC had granted MTN the 700MHz spectrum and MultiChoice direct-to-TV broadcast rights respectively under the new digital signal broadcast system that will replace the analogue network in 2017, to the disadvantage of other Nigerian investors who had to face rigorous due process and open competition.

The MTN is said to have invested N34 billion in the NBC deal that is now facing a legal challenge at the Federal High Court.

Chief Danladi urged the Buhari administration to decisively uphold the strict application of due process procurement rules and regulations as was witnessed for the roll-out of the National Terrestrial Broadcasting Signal Distribution Network in Nigeria between March and July 2014 especially, to thwart the South Africans’ undue advantage of circumventing due process to secure a strong foothold in the digital broadcast network as they had with the GSM network in Nigeria.

“It will be disheartening and against national interest for South African conglomerates to capture the commanding heights of telecommunications and digital broadcasting in Nigeria, both for strategic economic and national security reasons,” the stakeholders declared, pointing out that the NBC appears to be already succumbing to the South Africans’ exploitative tendencies by imposing “access fee” on the digital broadcasting service that would deprive the majority of Nigerians the free-to-air broadcasts enjoyed free all over the world,” he said.

The stakeholders further observed that the NBC had usurped the powers of the National Frequency Management Council under the new Ministry of Information and Culture in its MTN and MultiChoice transactions as if it was obliged to defer to its director-general’s nearly nine years of service to MultiChoice before coming to the NBC