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Nigeria to negotiate with S. African telecom giant MTN over huge fine

Xinhua, May 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Nigerian government says it will negotiate with South Africa-based mobile operator, MTN, over a huge fine imposed on the company for its failure to register all its subscribers.

The company was initially fined 5.2 billion U.S. dollars late last year, but it later succeeded in its bid to reduce the fine by 25 percent, which prompted an investigation of the issue by the House of Representatives.

Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu told parliament on Wednesday that the negotiation with MTN for a review of the fine would start as soon as the ongoing investigation concluded.

The fine was imposed on MTN after Nigerian authorities had requested all SIM card users registered by mobile operators for proper verification.

The authorities say the registration could make it easier for security agencies to track down mobile phone users with criminal records.

MTN has about 231 million subscribers in 22 countries across Africa, with Nigerian being its biggest market in the continent. Endit