MTN must obey Nigeria’s laws – South Africa’s Deputy President

MTN Group Ltd., Africa’s biggest mobile-phone company that’s facing a $5.2 billion fine in Nigeria, must follow the rules in countries where it does business, South African Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
“We will obviously be taking note of what is happening with a view of seeing how the company involved responds and reacts in this matter,” Ramaphosa told lawmakers in Cape Town on Wednesday. “We would like our companies to comply with the laws and regulations of countries where they operate, without violating those.”
The comments by Ramaphosa, a former chairman of MTN, suggest South African authorities may leave MTN to fend for itself as it seeks to have the penalty  reduced.
 MTN shares have slumped 14 per cent since Oct. 26, when Nigeria’s industry regulator imposed the fine for failing to disconnect customers with unregistered phone cards.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has given MTN until November 16 to pay the fine, which relates to the timing of the disconnection of 5.1 million subscribers and is based on a charge of N200,000 ($1,005) for each unregistered customer. Nigeria is Johannesburg-based MTN’s biggest market with 62 million clients as of September.
“It does seem like in the case of Nigeria, there were issues, and those issues need to be addressed,” Ramaphosa said. “If this fine is indeed imposed as it is, it is going to impact on South Africa as well, as our revenue fortunes from a taxation point of view are going to be lower.”
 Lawmakers plan to summon MTN officials to explain why the company was fined, Nkhensani Kubayi, chairwoman of Parliament’s telecommunications committee, said by phone from Cape Town. The panel also intends questioning the South African industry regulator to determine whether MTN is compliant with local rules, with hearings likely to take place next year, she said.
“I believe the South African government should be doing more than having a watching brief on what MTN does,” Athol Trollip, a lawmaker for the main opposition Democratic Alliance, said by phone. “They should give leadership on this.”
(Bloomberg)