How we saved 20m customers’ lines in 9mobile crisis – NCC

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) took the interest of investors, subscribers and employees of Etisalat into consideration to align with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in order to resolve the issues of Etisalat Nigeria (now 9Mobile) and the consortium of 13 banks.

The Executive Vice Chairman (EVC) and Chief Executive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, declared this when he received in audience Chief Executive of 9Mobile, Mr. Boye Olusanya, and Vice-President, (Regulatory Affairs) Mr Ibrahim Dikko in his office in Abuja, a statement by NCC said yesterday.

Danbatta, according to the statement signed by the commission’s director of public affairs Tony Ojobo, said: “The over $2 billion Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), by Mubadala of United Arab Emirates (UAE) was hanging, while 20 million subscribers and over 2000 workers would have been affected if we did not intervene in the matter with a view to finding an amicable resolution.”

Resolving the issue was also partly to forestall any form of disincentive to the FDI, Danbatta explained.

According to him, if the company had gone under, that would have created a social problem especially with the jobs of over 2,000 Nigerians on the line. He added that such a situation was capable of creating security challenges for the country.

Earlier, the Chief Executive of 9Mobile, Mr. Oye Olusanya, thanked the EVC and NCC management for their cooperation that led to a seamless change and asked for concessions, especially in the area of spectrum assignment; revisit of data floor price, review of interconnect rates to asymmetric platform, concessional foreign exchange access, national roaming and others “in order for 9Mobile to shore up its revenue and meet its financial obligations accordingly.”