MTN Nigeria appeals for NCC cooperation
MTN has appealed to the Nigeria Communications Commission (NCC) for its understanding and cooperation following a $2.35 million fine imposed by the regulator on the telecommunications group for poor service delivery.
MTN Nigeria was one of the many services providers in the country to be hit with a fine by the NCC for “failing to meet the minimum quality of service for the period under review in the period March – April 2012.” The fine is payable on or before 25 May 2012.
Last week, the NCC issued a statement saying the regulator was looking into imposing sanctions against MTN.
However, MTN has released a statement explaining and reiterating the difficulties involved with operating in the country – citing electrical issues, security concerns and infrastructural and environmental problems as key contributing factors the the company’s service delivery hang-ups.
Akinwale Goodluck, MTN’s Corporate Services Executive, said that “MTN continues to employ the greatest effort to overcome the infrastructural and environmental challenges that impede the delivery of consistently good quality of service”.
He estimated that MTN suffers more than seventy cuts to its fibre on a monthly basis, and commented that the heightened insecurity in several parts of the country has limited MTN’s ability to carry out routine maintenance and emergency repairs.
Goodluck also recalled several incidents of multiple taxation and over-regulation, citing examples which had led to the closure of a number of MTN sites in Abuja.
In each case, as with numerous incidents all over the country, MTN’s ability to service its customers had been severely impaired, the statement said.
Facing a challenging year
MTN said in March (2012) – in its financial results presentation for the year ended December, 2011 – that its operations in Nigeria faced a challenging year as the entire market was negatively affected by the process of SIM registration.
“Aggressive price competition had a negative impact on gross connections and network quality again became a focus area for the regulator as higher elasticity from lower pricing impacted traffic demand across almost all of the major networks,” it said.
However, the company increased its subscriber base by 7.7% to 41.6 million, out of a total subscriber base of 164.5 million, and ended the year with a more stabilised market share of 50% in Nigeria.
Goodluck appealed to the NCC, calling for its assitance in solving the aforementioned issues faced by the industry.
“No business thrives when its customers complain. It is not in our interest for them to do so. It is our desire that our customers are happy with us or else we do not have a business,” he said.
MTN is currently looking at investing $1.3 Billion in the Nigerian network, with a view to upgrading and increasing its capacity in the country.
“No company has invested more than MTN in network infrastructure since 2001. We have not been shy to invest heavily in our business and we will continue to do so,” Goodluck concluded.
By 15h30, MTN’s shares were off R1.37 – or 1% – to R135.20 on the JSE.
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