MTN recently announced that the Nigerian Communications Commission reduced its fine from N1.04 trillion (around R75 billion) to N780 billion (around R56 billion).
On 3 December, MTN announced its fine in Nigeria was reduced to N674 Billion Naira (around R48.5 billion). However, a day later the higher fine was upped.
The fine relates to the late disconnection of 5.1 million MTN Nigeria subscribers in August and September 2015.
The payment date for MTN’s fine in Nigeria remains 31 December 2015, which places pressure on the company.
Considering the size of the fine, it is not surprising that MTN executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko will “immediately and urgently re-engage with the Nigerian Authorities” about the matter.
The charts below illustrate the size of MTN Nigeria’s fine, and its impact on the company. The figures used in these graphs are based on MTN’s financial results for the year ended 31 December 2014.

It also means that MTN was effectively fined around N13,023 for every active subscriber on its network in Nigeria.

The MTN share price plummeted after news of the first fine reached investors.

The fine is much bigger than MTN Nigeria’s annual EBITDA of N483 billion.


The fine is close to MTN Nigeria’s annual revenue of N825 billion.





The new fine of N780 billion means that MTN was fined N152,941 for every SIM card it did not disconnect in time.