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Johannesburg - MTN [JSE:MTN] is reviewing its senior management in Nigeria after the company was fined $5.2bn by the country’s telecommunications regulator for failing to disconnect customers with unregistered SIM cards, according to a person familiar with the matter.
Senior executives at the company, who are in Nigeria to meet with the regulator to discuss the fine, will decide on whether to make changes to senior management, which is headed by local Chief Executive Officer Michael Ikpoki, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private.
Ikpoki didn’t respond to calls and messages seeking comment. Chris Maroleng, MTN’s main spokesperson at its head office in Johannesburg, declined to comment.
“We know of no such thing,” Chineze Gbenga-Oluwatoye, a spokesperson for MTN Nigeria, said by phone from Lagos.
MTN shares have plunged about 19% this week in Johannesburg, the biggest three-day drop since 2008, valuing the company at about R288bn.
The phone operator said on Monday the Nigerian Communications Commission is seeking the penalties because it missed a deadline to disconnect 5.1 million subscribers.
The stock declined 2.6% to R155.85 at the close on Wednesday, the lowest since October 2012.
The fine is based on 200 000 naira ($1 004) for each customer.
Nigeria is MTN’s biggest market, with about 62 million customers at the end of September.
