MTN, Airtel shares fall after NCC halt recruitment of new subscribers

MTN shares fell Thursday by as much as 8.6% in Johannesburg, the most in almost seven months, before paring the decline to 5% as of 3:38 p.m. while MTN Nigeria Communications Plc fell 0.8% in Lagos and Airtel Africa was 1.2% lower in London.

The fall came after Nigerian authorities ordered telecommunications companies, including MTN Group Ltd.and Airtel Africa Plc, to suspend the sale of SIM cards while authorities check their compliance with registration guidelines.

The government agency, NCC didn’t say how long the suspension would take.
“Mobile network operators are hereby directed to immediately suspend the sale, registration and activation of new SIM cards until the audit exercise is concluded,” the Nigerian Communications Commission said in a statement on its website.

Read also: MTN to complete payment of N330bn SIM infraction fine by May 31

Johannesburg-based MTN’s local unit, the West African country’s biggest wireless operator, said it had complied with the directive, according to a notice it sent to customers.

Airtel Africa, which listed in Lagos and London last year, vies with local operator Globacom Ltd. as the country’s second-biggest carrier.

The NCC fined MTN in 2015 for failing to disconnect undocumented SIM cards as part of a security crackdown. The matter was resolved a year later when the company paid 330 billion naira ($839 million) after extensive negotiations.