Hon. Abdulrazak Namdas, spokesperson of the Nigerian House of Representatives has said that MTN Nigeria’s fine for failure to register sim cards should be increased from $5 billion to $10 billion.
According to Bloomberg:
Africa’s biggest wireless operator must pay 400,000 naira ($2,015) for each of the 5.2 million unregistered phone lines it failed to deactivate before a deadline, instead of 200,000 naira, lawmaker Abdulrazak Namdas said in a phone interview from Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
He also said the lower chamber will “investigate” why Johannesburg-based MTN has been dealing with Nigeria’s attorney general instead of the Nigerian Communications Commission in trying to get the fine reduced.
While the penalty was cut to $3.9 billion earlier this year, MTN proposed this month to pay $1.5 billion in cash and installments to settle it. MTN’s proposal includes $252 million dollars that was paid in February in order to continue negotiations.