There were strong indications that Airtel, Globacom and MTN Nigeria Ltd sanctioned late last month for failing to meet the Key Performance Indicators, KPIs, for quality of service in the month of January 2014 may have paid the N647 million imposed on them by the telecoms regulatory authority, the Nigerian Communications Commission.
A competent source from the regulatory authority, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, told Vanguard Hi-Tech that all the sanctioned operators have paid the fines before the close of work on Friday, March 7, 2014.
It would be recalled that operators were mandated to pay the sanction amount on or before March 7, 2014, failure upon which each will be liable to pay N2,500,000 per day as long as the contravention persists.
Consequently, the three companies were barred from selling SIM Cards with effect from 1st till 31st of March 2014, and were also barred from all promotions in their networks until they improve on the failed KPIs for which they were sanctioned.
Accordingly, the details of the sanction showed that Airtel Network Ltd and MTN Nigeria Communications Ltd, were to pay a fine of N185million each while Globacom Ltd. was liable to the tune of N277million.
The Key highlights of the sanction were that the concerned operators must adhere to the following conditions:
*Payment of the fines shall be on or before March 7, 2014.
* Failure to settle the said amount within the stipulated period, the operators shall continue to be liable to pay the sum of N2,500,000 ( Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira Only) per day for as long as the contravention persist.
*To stop the sale of new SIM Cards throughout the month of March 2014, with effect from March 1 to 31, 2014.
*The Service Providers shall not churn or delete inactive or ( None revenue generating SIMs) from their networks during the period of March 1 to 31, 2014.
*The Service Providers shall not supply new SIM Cards from their warehouses or other sources to its Dealers or third parties throughout the period from March 1-31, 2014.
*The Service Providers shall stop all promotions until the KPIs which have been identified in their respective networks are positively addressed.
The sanctions, which were communicated to the three operators in a letter signed by the Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission, Dr. Eugene Juwah, said the Commission will carry out an audit of the three companies on March 1, 2014 and also on March 31st, 2014, to ensure that no sale of new SIM Cards takes place in any of the three networks within the period.
