By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted Globacom a further 21-day grace period to resolve and pay the interconnect fees it owes its fellow telco, MTN, as the deadline of a 10-day grace period before the commencement of a partial disconnection expired.
Interconnect fee refers to an amount charged by a telco for calls terminating on their network. The standard interconnect fee for local calls in Nigeria is pegged at N4.30 per minute.
MTN had alleged that Globacom owed it the levy and got the approval of the telecoms regulator to begin a phased disconnection on January 18. This would have seen the disconnection of Glo subscribers from reaching MTN numbers although Glo subscribers will be able to call MTN numbers.
According to reports, Glo owed around N6 billion in fees to MTN, but had often denied the sum.
Now, the NCC has granted a 21-day extension period to the disconnection that should have commenced today.
“The commission is pleased to announce that the parties have now reached an agreement to resolve all outstanding issues between them,” the NCC said in a press statement.
“The commission expects MTN and Glo to resolve all outstanding issues within 21 days,” it added.
The NCC’s guidelines on the procedure for approving to disconnect telecommunications operators state that a pre-disconnection notice must be given to the public and to the subscribers of the operator that is to be disconnected. The notice must state the reason for the disconnection and the date it will take effect.
The NCC only decides to disconnect a telecommunications operator as a last resort after all measures to make the erring party fulfil its deal fail.
In 2019, MTN instituted the same procedure and threatened to cut off the Mike Adenuga-owned network but saw an intervention from the regulator.
Modupe Gbadeyanka