Nigeria, February 24, 2016 – MTN, a South African firm based in Nigeria says it has withdrawn the suit it filed against Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) over a $3.9 billion fine imposed on it for SIM infraction.
In a statement today, the telecom giant said it has paid $250 million(N50 billion) as fine for out-of-court settlement to the NCC.
“MTN Nigeria has today made an agreed without prejudice good faith payment of 50 Billion Naira ($251.3 million) to the Federal Government of Nigeria on the basis that this will be applied towards a settlement, where one is eventually, hopefully arrived at” , the company said.
MTN, which makes billions from Nigeria had hired former US Attorney General, Eric Holder to defend it over the $3.9 billion fine imposed by NCC for failing to meet deadline to register clients using the network.
The former US Attorney General Eric Holder had pleaded with Nigerian officials last month on behalf of the telecoms company, forcing Nigeria to reduce the fine from $5.2 billion to $3.9 billion.
MTN was given up to March 18, 2016 to settle the fine.
