If you haven’t heard, Nigeria sued MTN for failing to deactivate 5.1-million unregistered SIM cards on its network. It was the largest amount in history, and well, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) agreed to reduce MTN’s fine. Slightly.

Payable no later than 31 December of this year, Africa’s largest mobile network needs to fork out $3.4bn. MTN received a formal letter from the commission yesterday and was “considering a careful” reply:

The executive chairman, Phuthuma Nhleko, will immediately and urgently re-engage with the Nigerian authorities before responding formally, as it is essential for the company to follow due process to ensure the best outcome … all factors having a bearing on the situation will be thoroughly and carefully considered before the company arrives at a final decision,” the company said.

MTN Nigeria had originally been fined $5.2bn. Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market with 63-million users.

[source: bdlive]