Federal government has set conditions including the payment of a “show of good faith” by MTN Nigeria before government can consider the telecom giant’s proposal for an out of court settlement in the protracted impasse of N780 billion fine imposed on MTN by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Mr. Adebayo Shittu, minister of Communication dropped the hint while fielding questions from ICT journalists during a media parley in Lagos, adding? that the federal government cannot return to renegotiation table with the telco until substantial fraction of the fine has been paid to indicate its readiness to settle the issue.

MTN had taken the NCC to court after the commission in November 2015 slammed a N1.04 trillion fine on it for failing to deactivate millions of unregistered subscribers. The fine was later reduced to N780 billion by the NCC.

Shittu said: “When MTN came, we understood their pleas. However, we added that if you cannot meet up with the fine, you have to add your account details to show that upon paying, your company will collapse. They are yet to respond on that. The next thing was for me to get a call they are going to court. And now, they are coming back for out of court settlement. We don’t want MTN to die; rather, we want them to obey the law.”

Credit: DailyTimes