adminMTN Group has withdrawn its legal action against Nigeria’s regulator over a $3.9bn fine and paid $250m towards a possible settlement, the company said in a statement yesterday.
Africa’s leading telecoms firm was fined by the Nigerian Communications Commission in October for failing to disconnect unregistered SIM users, prompting weeks of lobbying to reduce the fine.
The original amount was based on fining the company $1,000 for every unregistered SIM card in use.
“MTN Nigeria has today made an agreed without prejudice good faith payment of 50-billion naira ($251.3m) 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 37 percent of its sales in Nigeria, said it would withdraw its court challenge in an effort to reach an amicable settlement.
At about 2PM shares in the company rose about two percent to R130.37.
Meanwhile, prepaid airtime and electricity distributor of Blue Label Telecoms yesterday reported interim headline earnings per share (HEPS) increased 25 percent to 53.26c.
For the six months to November 30, 2015, the group said revenue had also increased 25 percent to R12.9bn, while cash and cash equivalents nearly doubled to R1.5bn.
The company said in spite of the challenging economic environment it had delivered an “encouraging performance”.
“This performance was attributable to organic growth, underpinned by an expanding distribution channel and in turn a growth in market share,” the company said.
Blue Label said its share of losses in its Mexican operations declined by 28 percent to R32.5m. This decline in losses was attributable to a 27 percent increase in revenue in the division. It expected this decline in losses to continue “in line with its roll-out of prepaid starter packs, which is gaining momentum on a monthly basis”.
Total assets increased by R591m to R7.6bn during the review period. — Reuters.
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