MTN Group is seeking a reduction of up 80 per cent of $5.2 billion fine imposed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), a Renaissance Capital’s note to clients has revealed.
According to a Bloomberg report quoting RenCap Head of Research, Adesoji Solanke, the telecom giant is “pushing to reduce the fine by 60 percent to 80 percent.”
The telecom firm is also considering borrowing money from banks to help settle the penalty.
“MTN is considering borrowing from banks, as it recently checked what the banks’ lending capacity to it is,” RenCap disclosed, citing an unnamed bank and another lender as sources.
MTN has until November 16 to pay the penalty, which relates to the timing of the disconnection of 5.1 million subscribers and is based on a charge of 200,000 naira ($1,005) for each unregistered customer.
The Johannesburg-based company’s shares lost almost a quarter of their value following the disclosure of the fine, before recovering 9 percent over the past two sessions.
“We don’t comment on banking matters and banking regulators in Nigeria are best placed to provide context on these matters,” MTN spokesman Chris Maroleng said by phone. “I don’t have that information,” Tony Ojobo, a spokesman for the NCC, said in a text message to Bloomberg.
