Lawmakers in South Africa yesterday, expressed concerns that the huge fine placed on MTN for violation of Nigerian laws could hurt trade relations between the continent’s two biggest economies.
The South African firm, MTN ,was last week fined N1.04tn ($5.2bn) by the Nigerian Communications Commission for failure to cut off users with unregistered SIM cards from its network.
“It is important for South Africa to increase trade relations with other African countries, but if something like this happens, we get worried about our reputation and the impact that would have on South African companies wishing to expand on the continent,” the head of the parliamentary telecoms portfolio, Mmamoloko Kubayi, told Reuters.
South African firms such as Shoprite and Standard Bank are among the biggest investors in Nigeria. The country accounted for nearly 80 per cent of South Africa’s total trade on the continent in 2012. South Africa’s oil imports account for the bulk of trade.
Talks between MTN and the Nigerian authorities continued yesterday, the company stated in a statement, and again dismissed speculation that it had reached an agreement on the fine.
Nigeria has been pushing all telecoms operators to verify the identity of their subscribers, on concerns that unregistered SIM cards were being used for criminal activities in a country facing an insurgency by the Boko Haram sect.