‘Subscribers May Bear Brunt Of N1.17bn Fine’

President, Nigeria Internet Group (NIG), Mr Bayo Banjo, on Monday expressed fear that subscribers might unknowingly be made to pay the fine imposed on the GSM operators for poor services.

He told newsmen in Lagos that the service providers were used to having their way in every situation and that the sanction might not really affect them.

It would be recalled that the NCC recently sanctioned Etisalat, MTN, Airtel and Globacom to pay cumulative fines of N1.17 billion for not meeting the key performance indicators.

“For instance, MTN has above 40 million subscribers, multiply the number by N10 and you will get N400 million,’’ he said.

According to him, the operator might raise money for the fine by programming the computer to deduct N10 from each of its customers’ available credit.

He said that the sanction would not serve as a deterrent but a means of further enriching the operators.

The NIG chief said that the monetary sanction would make the operators give excuses on why they would not be able to do what they ought to do.

He said that what NCC needed to do was to sanction the managing directors of the companies if the quality of service did not meet the required standard.

According to him, the operators were likely not going to pay the N1.17 billion fine as they would engage in lobbying the presidency.

Etisalat and MTN were fined N360 million each, Airtel is to pay N270 million, while Globacom was asked to pay N180 million.

The four GSM operators were given up till May 25 to pay the fines or face further sanctions.