According to a report, Senior executives at the company, who are in
Nigeria to meet with the regulator to discuss the fine, will decide on
whether to make changes to senior management, which is headed by local
Chief Executive Officer Michael Ikpoki.
Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator has fined South African mobile
giant MTN $5.2 billion for missing a deadline to disconnect
unregistered SIM cards, the company announced on Monday. The penalty saw
shares in Africa’s largest telecommunications company crash more than
12 percent to 167 rand on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the biggest
fall the firm has suffered in a day since November 1998.
Meanwhile, Ikpoki and MTN’s main spokesman at its head office in
Johannesburg, who were called to confirm the development, declined to
comment on the matter, but the spokeswoman for MTN Nigeria, Chineze
Gbenga-Oluwatoye, was quoted as saying, ‘‘We know of no such thing.
According to reports, MTN shares have declined by about 19 percent
this week in Johannesburg, the biggest three-day drop since 2008,
valuing the company at about 288 billion rand ($21 billion).
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had at the weekend
slammed N1.4 trillion penalty on the Nigerian largest telecom operator
for missing a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million subscribers.
The company’s stock was also said to have declined 2.6 percent to
155.85 rand at the close of work yesterday, the lowest since October
2012.