Glo Pays N2.6 Billion Interconnectivity Debt To MTN

MTN Nigeria has received N2.6bn part-payment of interconnect debt from Globacom, sources familiar with the issue confirmed on Thursday.

It was gathered that the industry regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission, had intervened in the debt issue, which led to partial disconnection of calls from Glo to MTN subscribers.

The source also said discussions were ongoing to devise a means of recovering the rest of the interconnect debt from Globacom.

This is coming after stakeholders weighed into a dispute on the interconnect debt estimated at N4.4bn to avert further breakdown in mobile communication between Globacom subscribers and MTN network users, which had lasted for more than five days.

As of December last year, the interconnect debt in the industry stood at N165bn.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued by the NCC on Thursday, the commission called on debtor operators in the industry to promptly settle interconnect debts owed their creditor networks to prevent possible revenue loss and customer flight from their networks to competitors.

The commission assured the 174 million telecoms consumers of their protection against any service disruption.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, said the regulatory body was committed to ensuring customers enjoy uninterrupted service while efforts were being made to address the issue of indebtedness in the industry.

Danbatta stated that the issue of interconnection was a matter that the commission was handling delicately within the purview of the regulatory provisions to protect consumers by ensuring that their quality of the experience was not acutely affected.

The EVC recalled that the regulatory approval on permission for disconnection was granted to creditor networks late last year, as a last resort towards resolving the huge interconnection debts threatening the health and sustainability of the industry.