Umar Danbatta, executive vice chairman of the NCC, met with Godwin Emefiele, the CBN governor and his team, on Thursday afternoon, and reached to intervene in the loan issue between Etisalat Nigeria and a consortium of commercial banks.
“The meeting which was held at the CBN in Abuja was convened by the financial regulator at the instance of NCC and the telecom regulator to further deliberate on how best to stop the attempt by the banks to take over Etisalat,” Tony Ojobo, NCC spokesperson said via a statement.
“At the end of the meeting, the CBN agreed to invite Etisalat management and the banks to a meeting tomorrow, Friday, toward finding an amicable resolution.”
Ojobo said that the NCC as a regulator of the telecom industry had moved quickly to intervene earlier in the week by reaching out to the CBN because it was convinced of the negative impact such takeover move would have on the industry.
He added that NCC was worried about the fate of the over 20 million Etisalat subscribers and the wrong signals this might send to potential investors in the Telecom industry.
Oluseyi Osuntedo, head of public relations, Etisalat Nigeria, had told NAN that “discussions are going on; nobody is taking up the company”.
Earlier, NAN reported that the telco’s debt was at N377 billion, without interest.
A consortium of some foreign and Nigerian banks, including Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank and Zenith Bank, have been having a running battle with the mobile telephone operator, over a loan facility totalling $1.72 billion (about N541.8 billion) obtained in 2015.
The banks said their attempt to recover the loan by all means, was fuelled by the pressure from the Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), demanding immediate cut down on the rate of their non-performing loans.
NCC appears not to be favourably disposed to the takeover proposal as it believed that Etisalat is not only a viable going concern, but also willing and able to negotiate the servicing of its loans.
Etisalat is Nigeria’s fourth largest telecoms operator with about 21 million subscribers as at January 2017, according to the NCC.
It commenced business in Nigeria in 2009.
from the cable.ng
I hope my MB won't suffer more than its already suffering?😏🤔
ReplyDeleteKelvin Dat Edo Boi (Stellz Cousin)
I have an Etisalat that I've not recharged for a long time now, let me go and recharge and help Etisalat pay back their loan
ReplyDelete080 naija for life
ReplyDeleteEtisalat sef, I wonder how dey make profit wit all their dash dash, u recharge 50naira Nd dey dash u 2k airtime...Na wa ooo...
ReplyDeleteHaba sofree dey lie na. U customers can lie for africa, dats aw you will call into call centre and lie that your data vanished, meanwhile we can see u were watchin porn with it. I fear who no fear una.
DeleteLol@watchin porn with it.
DeleteThey better wade in ooo because the N200 for N1400 calls i have not received. I dont know what they are doing. Imagine telling me i did not use my bonus and they have removed it.
ReplyDeleteYeye company
Good for them
ReplyDeleteN377B that's much o.
ReplyDeleteThis here is my problem with Nigeria. If this was solely a Nigerian company, they will waste no time in ruining it. Take Silverbird for example but because it's not, they step in to help them. DSTV will owe billions in tax and nothing happens but the small business on the street will be locked for not paying weekly levy. Remember the story of the Nigerian tomato company that threatened to close shop and move out of the country because CBN was not letting the company purchase material with the companies forex and fed govts reply was for anyone who wants to leave to leave. They let foreign companies get away with lots, give them import concessions etc but will squeeze Nigerian companies till they close shop. Until we lose this slave and master mentality and support our own, Nigeria will remain a third world country.
ReplyDeleteAnon 08:40 You are very silly. You obviously just resumed as a customer rep so keep quite until you learn the job. As though people's airtime don't vanish without cause. Etisalat keeps signing me up for inspirational and news texts which consume my airtime. If you call, they will claim you did it (with no evidence of you sending the code for activation because I always ask them which day and how I activated with no answer) deactivate it and after a while, you start getting it again. Bunch of thieves.
ReplyDeleteYou people using Etisalat I pity. Dropped their SIM after they re-allocated my no. twice. Only Telco that re-allocates after 3months and their recharge cards expire also. Exploitative people.
ReplyDelete