Leading telecom giants, Globacom and MTN Nigeria have resolved their interconnect fee debt differences on the back of NCC provided window in record time.
It would be recalled MTN had slammed a whopping sum of over N7.05 billion on Glo, covering interconnect charges of N1.6 billion (which was already paid before the controversial publication), VAT of N1.7 billion allegedly paid on behalf of Glo and a compounded interest of N3.6 billion, which Glo considered preposterous since it is the absolute prerogative of companies to pay its own interests and never through proxies.
In a statement, Glo said that MTN paid VAT on its behalf when it was already an established fact that Glo met all its obligations to FIRS.
However, Glo argued that to establish that it was not short of funds but only fighting for its fundamental rights and integrity in the industry, the company posted a payment guarantee of N3,489,961,881.48 and also issued seven bank cheques each of N500m making a total of N3.5b. but MTN later opted for the bank guarantee.
Accordingly, Glo then requested for the commencement of a reconciliation exercise. After the parties sat down for due diligence with the Regulators at NCC offices in Lagos, it was clearly established that contrary to the MTN insistence on claiming the earlier published sums, the interest element of the interconnect debt due from Glo to MTN stands at N2,368,290,400.81.
Findings by Business Hilights showed that the resolution of the debt differences was within the NCC’s given 21 days window.
