Court adjourns MTN Nigeria fine case for settlement talks

A judge at the Federal High Court in Lagos has adjourned MTN Group’s legal challenge of a NGN780 billion (USD3.9 billion) fine its local unit received from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) until 18 March 2016, in order to enable the parties to try and settle the matter out of court. In a statement published on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), the South African telecoms group said that if the parties are unable to reach a settlement, then the case will proceed on that date. Last month, MTN said it would challenge the fine it received from the NCC in October for failing to meet a deadline to disconnect around 5.1 million unregistered subscribers. The NCC had earlier reduced the NGN1.04 trillion fine by 25% to NGN780 billion, giving MTN until 31 December 2015 to pay the penalty.