NCC CEO, Eugene Juwah

After weeks of foot-dragging,  MTN Nigeria, Globacom and Airtel   Limited  have paid  the fines imposed on them by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the  country’s  telecommunications regulatory agency.

Industry sources told THISDAY Tuesday that MTN, Globacom  and Airtel paid their fines  Monday.
It was gathered that     Etisalat  is expected to  pay its fines to the NCC Tuesday.

The   four telecommunications giants were  fined a cumulative penalty of  N1.17bn over poor quality telecoms services.
MTN and Etisalat  were fined N360million each, while Airtel and Globacom  were fined N270million and N180million respectively.

The  telecommuncations companies had protested the payment,  and at a point  the impression was that they were not going to pay   before the sudden change of mind.

They had argued  that  the poor infrastructure in the country, particularly  the power problem was among the reasons for poor quality service.
The companies had also argued that they responded quickly to address the poor quality services when they occurred.

The Director, Legal and Regulatory Services, Josephine Amuwa, and the Head of Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement, Ubale Maska,  of NCC had given all the operators up till  May 21, 2012 or be liable to payment of “additional N2.5 million per day for as long as the contravention persists.”