Toriola: MTN Will Comply with NCC’s Directive on Interconnect Debt

Emma Okonji

Following the directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to put on hold the planned disconnection of Globacom subscribers from receiving calls generated from the MTN network, Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Mr. Karl Toriola, said MTN will abide by the directive of NCC, the telecoms industry regulator.

NCC had on January 8 published a pre-disconnection notice, informing subscribers of the approval granted MTN Nigeria Communications Plc to commence the phased disconnection of Globacom subscribers with effect from January 18, 2024, due to long-standing interconnection debt dispute between the two telecoms operators.

On January 17, NCC issued a statement putting on hold the initial directive to disconnect Globacom subscribers.

In the statement signed by NCC’s Director, Public Affairs, Mr. Reuben Muoaka, NCC said Globacom’s subscribers would no longer be disconnected by MTN, following agreement reached by both telecoms operators to settle their interconnect indebtedness 

The statement said, “The commission is pleased to announce that the parties have now reached an agreement to resolve all outstanding issues between them. For this reason, and in exercise of its regulatory powers in that regard, the commission has put the phased disconnection on hold for a period of 21 (twenty-one) days from 17 January, 2024.”

NCC said the commission expected MTN and Glo to resolve all outstanding issues within the 21-day period. The commission insisted that interconnect debts must be settled by all operating companies as a necessary component towards compliance with regulatory obligations of all licensees.

Reacting to the NCC directive putting on hold the planned disconnection of Globacom subscribers, Toriola said MTN would abide by the directive.

Toriola, who spoke during a recent interview with ARISE NEWS Channels, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, said, “Suffice it to say that the NCC is the most developed regulatory body. Whatever we do in that dispute or that discourse will be in line with what the NCC dictates.

“The NCC is very competent in addressing such issues and it has come out with authorisation 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.”

Toriola reiterated that MTN remained a Nigerian company.

He stated, “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 the company. We have a very seasoned board of Nigerian directors as well as some international directors. We’ve grown to become the biggest telecoms operator in Nigeria because we’ve done the right things at the right time. You cannot force customers to make their choice with their wallets.”

Toriola added that the ICT company remained committed to integrating digital competencies, prioritising customer satisfaction, whilst operating with the highest levels of compliance to industry standards.