MTN Nigeria has said it is still addressing the interconnectivity debt issue with another licencee, Globacom Limited.
The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, in an interview with Arise TV, said Nigerians would soon know whatever conclusion reached on the issue.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had on January 8, 2024, published a pre-disconnection notice informing subscribers of the approval granted MTN to commence the phased disconnection of Glo customers with effect from January 18, 2024, due to a long-standing interconnection debt dispute between the parties.
But Toriola said during the interview that, “Suffice it to say that we have between the NCC and the CBN, the most developed regulatory bodies who arbitrate on such matters and whatever we do in that dispute or that discourse will be in line with what the NCC dictates.
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“The NCC is very competent in addressing such issues; they’ve come out with authorization for disconnection and that has been put on hold to give an opportunity to address these issues.
“But what I can say is that MTN will always act in the most professional, most compliant manner, and we will not do anything that hasn’t been authorised by our licensing conditions or the regulator.”
While speaking on the origin of the company, he reiterated that it was solely a Nigerian company.
He said, “We are a Nigerian company, registered in Nigeria with Nigerian shareholders. If you look at our leadership cadre, you’ll see that the company is 90 per cent led at the very top level by Nigerians, and I don’t think we have more than 10 expatriates in this company. We have a very seasoned board of Nigerian directors as well as some international directors. We’ve grown to this size because we’ve done the right things at the right time. You cannot force customers to make their choice with their wallets.”
The NCC had given both MTN and Glo 21 days to resolve the debt issue.
