MTN Nigeria could face bankruptcy

The report reveals that, according to Moolman, the fine imposed on the mobile operator by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is actually 95 percent of its annual turnover.

According to a report via leadership.ng Ferdi Moolman, Chief Executive of MTN Nigeria, has stated that the USD $5.2 billion fine could “fold the network.”
The report reveals that, according to Moolman, the fine imposed on the mobile operator by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) is actually 95 percent of its annual turnover.
Back in October 2015 the NCC had fined the mobile giant for failing to deactivate 5.1 million pre-registered subscriber identification module (SIM) lines discovered on its network.
According to the leadership.ng report, Moolman had stated that the telecom giant had noted that the fine was indeed harsh; however, the operator had learnt its lesson from it, and would work to restore relationship with the regulator, stakeholders and its customers.
In the report he stated that: “I see a situation where the relationship with NCC is restored in the interest of the Nigerian public, where we start providing services again to the Nigerian public together with the NCC.”
Moolman added to the report that: “The size of the fine blows my mind when you start looking at the figure. It is huge, it is massive. How do you fix it, what do you do? Operating in the telecom world has become challenging,” he said within the report.
Moolman said, according to leadership.ng, going forward, MTN is positioning itself as full digital company playing deep in the broadband, broadcasting and digital content space in the information and communications technology sector. “We would like to take this company from a telecom company to a people’s company so that people can communicate with each other, entertain themselves, something that people are proud to be part of.
On SIM registration, Moolman said that a solid database of MTN’s subscribers was key to the next phase of the telecommunications revolution, especially in the area of broadband provisioning. He said it had commenced a complete re-registration of all its more than 63 million subscribers in Nigeria.