The temporary resolution of the interconnectivity debt issue between MTN Nigeria, a telecom operator owned by South Africa, and Globacom, an indigenous operator, occurred on Thursday. This means that the planned blackout of approximately 61 million Glo users from receiving or making calls from MTN customers has been postponed.
The matter was reportedly being settled by the two parties, according to a previous article from the press.
A long-running interconnection debt issue between the companies has confirmed this, as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) declared that it has delayed approving MTN to start the gradual disconnection of Globacom.
“The commission is happy to announce that the parties reached an agreement to resolve all outstanding issues between them,” says a statement from the NCC, signed by Reuben Mouka, Director of Public Affairs.
Due to this and in the exercise of its regulatory authority, the commission has decided to postpone the phased disconnection starting today, January 17, 2024, for a period of 21 days.
“As a crucial part of all licensees’ regulatory compliance, the commission requests that interconnect debts be settled by all operating businesses, even though it expects MTN and Glo to address all outstanding concerns within 21 days.”
According to sources at the NCC, the government intervened to pressure MTN to shelve its disconnection plan out of concern that it would have a significant negative impact on the economy.
According to one of the sources, last week’s meeting between top federal government representatives and representatives of MTN and Glo was arranged at the request of Dr. Bosun Tijani, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.