Fresh facts have emerged on why the proposed sale of 9mobile has delayed than expected as reports show that the troubled telecommunications company owes the Nigerian Communications Commission cum the Federal Government of Nigeria the sum of
TechEconomy.ng learnt that the telco has been able to reduce the debt by half as it was originally calculated to be in the region of 15 billion naira (N15,000,000,000).
However, it appears the Federal Government wants full payment made before it can be handed over to the preferred bidders-Teleology.
The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Professor Umar Garba Danbatta, confirmed the report while speaking to journalists in Abuja recently.
Speaking, specifically on the sale of 9mobile to Teleology, the EVC stated that a 15.3 billion naira debt owed the NCC and Federal Government by 9mobile had stalled the sale, but about half had been paid and the technical evaluation and due diligence on the sale have almost been concluded.
Professor Danbatta said that, “9mobile owed N12b Annual Operating Levies (AOL) for two years, numbering fees of N1b and spectrum fees of N2.3b and on paying the spectrum fees, half of the AOL and half of the numbering fees, the NCC transmitted a letter of ‘No Objection’ to allow the transfer of shares to United Capital from Emerging Markets Telecommunications Services (EMTS), the original owners of Etisalat Nigeria.
“As soon as they meet the next conditions and the technical evaluation of Teleology is concluded, we will again transmit the final approval letter of ‘No Rejection’ for transfer of shares from United Capital to Teleology.”
The EVC also addressed the issue around NCC’s commitment to stopping illegal call masking operations in Nigeria.
“We have discovered that call masking is being perpetrated with small movable devices called SIM boxes and we are in the process of choosing the best from a list of technology solutions used in other countries, to block the devices, track and apprehend the culprits”, he said.
Source: TechEconomy.ng