NCC bars MTN, Airtel and Glo from sales of new sim cards and imposes fines on them

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Press Release
NCC imposes N647 Million fine on Airtel, Glo
and MTN,
…Bars them from selling SIM Cards
The Nigerian Communications Commission,
NCC, has imposed fines in the total sum of
N647,500,000 Million on three service
providers, Airtel, Globacom and MTN Nigeria
Ltd for failing to meet the Key Performance
Indicators, KPIs, for quality of service in the
month of January 2014.
Consequently, the three companies have been
barred from selling SIM Cards with effect from
1st till 31st of March 2014, and are also
barred from all promotions in their networks
until they improve on the failed KPIs for which
they are sanctioned.
The details of the sanction showed that Airtel
Network Ltd, and MTN Nigeria
Communications Ltd, are to pay a fine of N185
Million each while Globacom Ltd is liable to the
tune of N277,500. In addition, each of the
operators must pay the sanction amount on or
before March 7, 2014, failure upon which each
will be liable to pay N2,500,000 per day as
long as the contravention persists.
The sanctions, which were communicated to
the three operators in a letter signed by the
Executive Vice Chairman of the Commission,
Dr. Eugene Juwah, said the Commission will
carry out an audit of the three companies on
March 1, 2014 and also on March 31st, 2014,
to ensure that no sale of new SIM Cards takes
place in any of the three networks within the
period.
The letter made reference to an earlier
directive of December 10, 2014, which
warned the operators that "if the Quality of
Service does not improve by 31st December,
2013, the Commission will be compelled to
direct operators to, among others, suspend
the activation of new SIMs and subscribers
until such an operator can prove that it has
met the Key Performance Indicators specified
in the Regulations".
According to Dr. Juwah, " the Commission
after careful collation of statistics from the
Network Operating Centres, NOC, of all major
networks operators for the month of January
2014, has concluded that the service provided
by some of the operators during the period
fell below the Key Performance Indicators
published by the Commission in the Quality of
Service Regulations, as amended".
Details of the sanction also indicated that
Airtel failed on Call Setup Success Rate, CSSR,
and SDCONG, while MTN failed on Call Setup
Success Rate , CSSR and Drop Call Rate, DCR.
On its part, Globacom failed on Call Setup
Success Rate, CSSR, Drop Call Rate, DCR, and
SDCONG.
The Key highlights of the sanction are that the
concerned operators must adhere to the
following conditions:
1. Payment of the fines shall be on or before
March 7, 2014.
2. Failure to settle the said amount within the
stipulated period, the operators shall continue
to be liable to pay the sum of N2,500,000
( Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira
Only) per day for as long as the contravention
persist.
3. To stop the sale of new SIM Cards
throughout the month of March 2014, with
effect from March 1 to 31, 2014.
4. The Service Providers shall not churn or
delete inactive or ( None revenue generating
SIMs) from their networks during the period of
March 1 to 31, 2014.
5. The Service Providers shall not supply new
SIM Cards from their warehouses or other
sources to its Dealers or third parties
throughout the period from March 1-31, 2014.
6. The Service Providers shall stop all
promotions until the KPIs which have been
identified in their respective networks are
positively addressed.
The directive further warned that "any
deviation or alteration of provisioning pattern
( in terms of average daily number of
provisioning) in the remaining days of
February 2014 compared to the regular
provisioning rates by the concerned service
providers shall be construed as a breach to
the Direction.