Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, has fined MTN Nigeria the sum of N1.04 trillion for breaching subscriber identity module, SIM, registration rules.
NCC Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, said MTN was discovered to be harboring about 5.2million flawed SIM cards on its network which it failed to deactivate.
MTN was also accused of pre-registering SIM cards in its systems which made it impossible to authenticate the personal details of subscribers, thereby compromising national security.
President Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria, ATCON, Lanre Ajayi in reaction to the penalty described it as “inappropriate” adding that a fine should measure up to the offence.
Last month NCC sanctioned four leading telecom operators including MTN for having pre-registered SIM cards in their systems.
Other culprits were Airtel, Globacom and Etisalat Nigeria which along with MTN were mandated to pay N120.4 million for failing to fully comply with the commission’s directive to deactivate pre-registered and defective customer SIM cards.
MTN, which controls over 62 million subscribers, was asked to pay N102.2 million while Globacom was slammed with N7.4 million; Etisalat N7 million and Airtel N3.8 million.
MTN in reaction to the sanction promised to resolve the matter with NCC.
“Leading ICT Company in Nigeria, MTN confirmed that the NCC has imposed a N1.4 trillion fine ($5.2billion) on MTN Nigeria.
“This fine relates to the timing of the disconnection of the 5.1million MTN subscribers that were disconnected in August and September 2015 and is based on a N200, 000 fine for each improperly registered subscriber.
“MTN Nigeria is currently engaging with the NCC to resolve the matter.”
According to NCC, the use of biometrics for SIM card verification not only works as evidence of ownership credentials, but it also creates a sense of accountability among SIM card owners to not use their mobile phones for any kinds of criminal activities.
The regulatory body added that the measure was meant to correct the anomalies discovered on the biometric data of the SIM cards purportedly registered by the telcos and shipped to the regulator for safe-keeping which they had continued to vacillate.
Ojobo since 2012 had insisted that all improperly registered SIM cards be deactivated was informed by the security situation in the country, adding that all the security agencies in the country were carried along in the decision to deactivate all defectively registered SIM cards.
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