Nigeria fines Airtel, others for poor service

Bans companies from selling SIM cards in March

Nigeria's telecoms regulator has fined mobile operators MTN , Airtel and Globacom a combined 647.5 million naira and banned them from selling SIM cards in March due to poor service, it said on Thursday.

Globacom, which is owned by Nigerian billionaire Mike Adenuga, was fined 277.5 million naira, while South Africa's MTN and Airtel, which is owned by Bharti Airtel , were each fined 185 million naira, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said in a statement.

The NCC will charge each company 2.5 million naira for every day the fine is not paid after March 7, it said. The month-long ban on selling SIM cards in a country of around 170 million people could be the most damaging.

 

The penalties were imposed because the operators had failed to meet key performance indicators in January, the NCC said.