South Africa’s MTN Group this morning in Lagos asked for out-of-court settlement of a suit filed by the mobile phone giant against the industry regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission’s (NCC) N1.04 trillion fine imposed on its Nigerian subsidiary, MTN Nigeria, for failure to deactivate 5.1 million unregistered or poorly registered subscribers on its network last year.
The major volte face by MTN, the biggest mobile phone company in Nigeria, took place at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos when it opted to settle the suit against NCC out of court.
Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), who led a powerful team of MTN lawyers including 10 Senior Advocates of Nigeria (SANs) to the court, told the presiding judge, Justice Mohammed Idris, that MTN has opted for out of court settlement.
MTN’s request turned out to be a dramatic anti-climax to the major legal challenge initiated by the South African mobile operator when it decided to challenge NCC’s decision to impose the fine, claiming that NCC lacked power to impose the punishment under its establishing laws.
Opinions were divided from the other parties to the suit in the wake of MTN’s decision to settle out of court in the legal tussle against NCC, which fined the company for not deactivating 5.1 million unregistered or poorly registered mobile phone lines on its network in August and September, last year, despite repeated warnings.
Following the request by MTN, the Presiding Judge subsequently adjourned the matter till March 18, this year, when the two parties are expected to come back with their mutually-agreed decision on the matter.
On December 15, NCC reduced the fine against MTN by 25 per cent to N780 billion with December 31 deadline to pay up. Following its expiry, unconfirmed media reports said the full N1.04tr has to be paid by MTN Nigeria. It is unclear what the out-of-court settlement will renegotiate, if anything, after the truncated court battle.
-With Technology Times report.