NCC fined MTN Nigeria N1.04trillion for breach of sim regulation rules.

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The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has fined MTN Nigeria N1.04 trillion for alleged breach of subscriber identity module (SIM) registration rules. MTN allegedly pre-registered SIM cards in its systems which made it impossible to verify the personal details of subscribers, thereby compromising national security.

NCC Director, Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, said MTN was discovered to be harbouring about 5.2million defective SIM cards on its network which it failed to deactivate.

President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Lanre Ajayi, described the fine as “inappropriate”, noting that a fine should measure up to the offence.

Last month, NCC sanctioned the four leading telecom operators including MTN for having pre-registered SIM cards in their systems. Others are Airtel Nigeria, Globacom Nigeria and Etisalat Nigeria which along with MTN were asked to pay N120.4 million for failing to fully comply with the commission’s directive to deactivate pre-registered and defective customer SIM cards.

While MTN, which controls over 62 million subscribers, was asked to pay N102.2 million then; Globacom was slammed with N7.4 million; Etisalat N7 million and Airtel N3.8 million. NCC insists that the practice of using biometrics for SIM card verification not only works as a proof of ownership credential, but it also creates a sense of accountability among SIM card owners to not use their mobile phones in any kind of criminal activities.

Justifying the imposition of the first fine, `Ojobo had said since 2012, the telcos had been directed 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 but they had continued to vacillate.

He said the insistence 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.

MTN: We ‘re engaging NCC

MTN Nigeria last night spoke on the fine, promising to resolve the matter with NCC.

In an electronic mail titled:

MTN Engages NCC over SIM registration Sanctions, the telco yesterday wrote: “Leading ICT Company in Nigeria, MTNconfirmed 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.”

Source :The Nation.