CBN soft pedals on MTN Nigeria’s $8.1 billion sanction

MTN

The Central Bank of Nigeria has indicated signs that its illegal transfer row with MTN Nigeria would be resolved amicably.

MTN is Nigeria’s largest mobile carrier with about 38% market share.

It would be recalled that the CBN has ordered MTN Nigeria to return $8.1 billion back to Nigeria due to an unapproved by the CBN before it was sent to its parent company, MTN Group Limited in South Africa.

The Governor of the apex bank, Godwin Emefiele said in his briefing to the media that: “I am very optimistic we will resolve the matter and I believe that everybody will be happy. MTN will be happy, the banks will be happy. CBN and the government would be happy,”

He added that “systemically important” to his country.

MTN gets about 30% of its profit from Nigeria, a market that is systemically important to its bottom line. In 2014, Nigeria’s telecom regulator, the National Communications Commission, NCC, fined the mobile carrier a total of $4 billion which was later renegotiated to $1.3 billion for not deactivating pre-registered numbers.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *