The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has imposed fines totalling N647,500,000 million on three of the four global system for mobile (GSM) communication service providers in the country.
The affected operators are Airtel, Globacom and MTN. They are being sanctioned for failing to meet the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for quality of service in the month of January this year.
Consequently, the three companies have been barred from further sale of subscriber identity module (SIM) cards with effect from next month. They are also barred from all promotions on their networks until they improve on the failed KPIs for which they are sanctioned.
According to a statement, 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 to pay N277,500. In addition, each of the operators must pay the sanction amount on or before March 7 failure upon which each will be liable to pay N2,500,000 per day as long as the contravention persists.