• NCC Confirms Receipt Of Firm's N30b Fine Payment
• To Liquidate Remainder By May 31, 2019
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has affirmed the installment of the N30 billion fine paid by MTN.
As indicated by NCC's Director of Public Affairs, Tony Ojobo, MTN has paid N30 billion ($98 million, 92 million euros) as a major aspect of the fine.
Ojobo revealed to The Guardian on phone yesterday that a receipt has been issued to the broadcast communications firm, "which affirms the installment."
The General Manager, Corporate Affairs, at MTN Nigeria, Omasan Ogisi, disclosed to The Guardian that installment was made before yesterday, "and we have been issued receipt."
MTN, Nigeria's biggest versatile administrator, was at first fined $5.2 billion (N1.04 trillion) in 2015 for neglecting to deactivate more than five million unregistered Subscriber Identification Module (SIM) cards, some of which were professedly connected to the Boko Haram extremists.
The seriousness of the punishment was to fill in as an obstruction to other specialist organizations, whose activity or inaction undermine the unsafe security circumstance in the nation.
Yet, taking after a progression of mediations and transactions, which endured around six months, including a meeting between President Muhammadu Buhari and his South African partner, Jacob Zuma, in March a year ago in Nigeria, the fine was decreased to N780 billion, and later N330 billion.
With the affirmation of the installment of N30 billion fine, the South African broadcast communications firm has now paid N110 billion.
Government had affirmed the before installment of N80 billion to its coffers as at December a year ago as a major aspect of the fine, which has been stumbled till 2019.
In particular, the sum paid prior before the new N30 billion, incorporated the "goodwill" installment of N50 billion in December 2015 and another N30 billion on June 10, a year ago.
Different tranches of the installment incorporate that by March 31, 2018, MTN would pay another N55 billion; N55 billion by December 31, 2018; N55 billion by March 31, 2019; and the adjust of N55 billion on May 31, 2019.
The installments are relied upon to go into NCC's Treasury Single Account (TSA) with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
This is similarly as MTN precluded claims from claiming some of its number being utilized to end people groups' lives.
There have been charges that MTN numbers, 08030004900 and 08066699666, have a place with some serial executioners, which they have been utilizing to take people groups lives when calls are gotten through them.
There are additionally guarantees that when calls are gotten through them, the collector bounced into the Lagos Lagoon.
A message on WhatsApp read: "08030004600 and 08066699666: Warning: Do not pick any of these numbers. They are extreme executioner numbers, which was accounted for to have been murdering individuals the nation over. Spare LIVES!"
In any case, reacting to The Guardian enquiry on the matter, MTN Nigeria Public Relations and Protocol Manager, Funso Aina, in an email, stated: "If it's not too much trouble take note of that there is no truth to this story, as we have as of now conveyed in all our online networking channels.
"08030004900 was a telemarketing number, which is not being used as of now."