Globacom subscribers are set to face restrictions in making calls to MTN lines, as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) revealed its partial approval for the disconnection of Glo from MTN Nigeria Communications Plc. The disclosure was made in a public notice signed by Reuben Muoka, Director of the Public Affairs Department, on Monday.
The NCC stated that it had granted partial approval for the disconnection due to the non-settlement of interconnect charges by Globacom. The notice indicated that Glo was notified of MTN’s application, allowing Globacom to present its case and comment on the matter. However, the commission found that Glo lacked sufficient or justifiable reasons for failing to pay the interconnect charges.
Following the NCC’s decision, subscribers of Globacom will be unable to make calls to MTN lines after a 10-day period from the date of the notice. However, they will still be able to receive calls, while in-bound calls to the Globacom network will not be affected.
This is not the first instance of Glo subscribers facing disconnection from making calls to MTN due to unsettled interconnect charges. In 2019, MTN briefly disconnected Glo subscribers following a directive from the NCC over a N4 billion debt.
The interconnect charge represents the fees telecom operators pay each other for calls terminating on their networks. According to an MTN source, Glo owes approximately N6 billion in interconnect fees.
Efforts to obtain Glo’s response to the situation are ongoing, and as of now, the company has not provided any comments on the matter. With 61.39 million mobile subscriptions on Glo’s network as of August 2023, the restriction on making calls to MTN lines is expected to take effect from January 18, 2024, as per the latest NCC notice.
