Nigeria relaxes fine imposed on telecom giant to boost foreign investments

The Nigerian government has reduced the penalty against telecommunications giant MTN after realizing the negative impact the burden could have on the nation, its people and the economy, an official said Sunday.

Minister of Communications Adebayo Shittu told reporters in the southwest city of Ibadan that the 5.2 billion U.S dollars fine slammed on telecommunication giant, MTN, was reduced to encourage foreign investments into the country.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had slammed a 5. 2 billion dollars fine on MTN for violating the directive of the regulatory body in Nigeria.

The NCC had directed all telecom providers in the country to register subscribers and disconnect erring subscribers but which MTN could not meet.

MTN, having failed was fined 1,000 dollars per each of its 5.2 million affected subscribers, totaling 5.2 billion dollars.

The minister told reporters that there were pressures on the government from different quarters, which later agreed to reduce the fine imposed on MTN to 330 billion naira (1.7 billion U.S. dollars) to be paid within a period of three years.

"Nigeria as a country must move on. We must not do anything to drive away foreign investors. Foreign investments are potent means of bringing about development and wealth creation," he said.

Shittu advised the telecoms operators against taking Nigeria and their customers for granted, warning that all infractions would be appropriately sanctioned.

MTN, Africa's biggest mobile operator, has about 231 million subscribers in 22 countries across Africa, with Nigerian being its biggest market in the continent. Endite