SOUTH African telecoms group MTN said on Tuesday its Nigerian business is likely to report about $955-million in annual profit after tax, confirming a newspaper report in the west African country.
“Profit after tax figure for MTN Nigeria for the period ended 31 December 2015 being quoted in the press article, stands at N190-billion ($955-million), which is within the current estimate,” the company said in a statement.
The Africa’s largest mobile operator has been fined $3.9-billion by the Nigerian telecommunication regulatory authority, Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), for failing to disconnect users of unregistered SIM cards.
MTN, which makes about 37 per cent of its revenue from Nigeria, has filed a court case to challenge the fine, which equates to more than twice its annual average capital spending over the past five years. Shares in MTN were up 0.8 per cent at 121.50 rand on Tuesday, lagging a 1.4% rise in the JSE Top-40 index.