The Nigerian Communications Commission
has written the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr.
Abubakar Malami, demanding the transfer of the initial N50bn paid by MTN
Nigeria Communications to the regulator’s account with the Central Bank of
Nigeria.
The Executive Vice Chairman, NCC, Prof. Umar
Danbatta, disclosed this in Abuja on Monday while answering questions from
journalists at a press conference to mark the one year anniversary of his
coming on board.
The NCC boss, who said the money had been lodged
in a recovery account opened by the OAGF with the CBN, added that it needed to
be transferred to the NCC account before it could be moved to the Consolidated
Revenue Account of the Federal Government.
The commission had imposed a fine of N1.04tn on
MTN Nigeria Communications Limited in October 2015 for failing to disconnect
5.2 million improperly registered subscribers from its network. After initial
negotiations, MTN went to court.
However, in a twist, it withdrew the case out of
the court and paid N50bn through the OAGF to show the government that it was
ready to embark on full negotiation in a bid to settle the matter out of court.
There appeared to be crack in the government’s
handling of the matter when the Minister of Communications, Mr. Adebayo Shittu,
denied that his ministry and its agencies took part in the negotiation and
subsequent receipt of the money.
When the government and the NCC eventually
entered into fresh negotiations with MTN, the fine was reduced to N330bn spread
over a period of three years. The initial N50bn paid by the company was
regarded as the first instalment.
Danbatta said MTN had since paid another N30bn,
which means that the company has so far paid N80bn, with an outstanding balance
of N250bn.
The NCC helmsman also said that the regulator
declined a request by MTN to acquire the spectrum being used by Visafone even
though it approved the acquisition of 100 per cent shareholding in the company
by MTN.
The nation’s chief telecom regulatory officer
argued that the acquisition of Visafone’s frequency could perpetuate MTN’s
dominant position in the Nigerian telecommunications market, adding that the
NCC would subject the request to a public inquest.
Danbatta also said that MTN would roll out
services on the 2.6MHz spectrum acquired through a bidding process.
He said, “In the recent wireless broadband
frequency bidding process for the 2.6MHz spectrum by the commission, MTN
Nigeria Limited emerged the winner of six slots. The licensing of frequency in
this slot has suffered several setbacks until recently when six slots out of 14
made available by the commission were allocated for immediate deployment of
4G-LTE services.
“By the rollout plans for this service as
provided by the winner, broadband services on this frequency spectrum will be
available in the last quarter of 2016.”
He added, “We have initiated processes for
licensing of more broadband services on the 5.4GHz spectrum band. We have
opened the process for the allocation of frequencies in the 70/80GHz band
(e-band).
“Approval has been given for the deployment of 4G
Long Term Evolution Technology by NATCOM Development and Investment Limited,
which has launched the first Voice over LTE call on February 25.”
Danbatta also announced that the country’s
broadband penetration had reached 20.95 per cent.
“Equally, on the percentage of Internet
penetration, the country has reached a milestone of 47.44 per cent, second to
South Africa on the continent,” he said.
On unsolicited text messages, Danbatta said the
NCC had constituted a task force to verify the compliance of telecoms operators
with the directives issued to them.
He said the regulatory agency would not shy away
from sanctioning operators found wanting.
Tags
Business