Sunday, September 7, 2025
24.9 C
Lagos

MTN Floors Etisalat Again over Visafone Acquisition

For the second time in a row, MTN Nigeria has floored Etisalat Nigeria over the legal battle concerning recent acquisition of Visafone Communications by MTN.

At the resumed hearing of the matter yesterday before Justice Ibrahim Buba of the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, the court threw out the suit filed by Etisalat against MTN and Visafone over the acquisition of the CDMA operator.

Justice Buba delivered his ruling in respect of Notice of Preliminary Objection raised by MTN and Visafone challenging the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court to adjudicate on the matter.

In the ruling, the court upheld the defendants’ argument, as canvassed by Mr. Niyi Adegbonmire, SAN (MTN’s and Visafone’s Counsel) and struck out the matter on the following grounds:

· That Etisalat failed to fulfill condition precedent as required by the Nigerian Communications Act as Etisalat failed to exhaust the judicial review process as mandated by law. Specifically, the court considered Etisalat’s action as an attempt to circumvent the judicial review process.

· That Etisalat’s complaint was hinged on the administrative powers of the Nigerian Communications Commission who had already approved the transaction between MTN and Visafone and as such, both Visafone and MTN were not relevant parties to the suit.

· That the suit as filed by Etisalat, was incurably bad and could not be remedied.

· That the NCC was empowered to determine actions which constitute anti-competition and had actually informed Etisalat, in writing, that the transaction between Visafone and MTN did not lower competition in the telecommunications industry. The court found that the letter, which was also exhibited in court, was fatal to Etisalat’s case.

· The court also faulted the approach by Etisalat in instituting the action contrary to the provision of the Nigerian Communications Act.

spot_img
spot_img

Hot this week

Nigeria, Brazil Central Banks Deepen Economic, Financial Co-operation

Nigeria’s Central Bank Governor, Olayemi Cardoso, has held talks...

Ecobank Nigeria to Host Second Edition of Design & Build, Showcasing Premier Innovators in Design, Construction

Ecobank Nigeria, a subsidiary of the leading pan-African banking...

Expert: Fintech, Financial Inclusion Critical for Sustainable Growth of Nigerian Economy

A renowned economist, Dr. Biodun Adedipe, the Chief Consultant/CEO,...

Sterling Bank Marks One Year of Africa’s Groundbreaking Core Banking System

Number one Best Workplace in Banking in Nigeria and...

Topics

Rosatom, YLB Partner on Lithium Mining and Production in Bolivia

Uranium One Group JSC (an entity of the ROSATOM...

PenCom: Why Micro Pension Adoption is Slow in Nigeria

Mr. Dauda Ahmed, Head of Micro Pension at the...

MTN Nigeria Lists on Stock Exchange Tomorrow

MTN Nigeria Communications Plc has received approval to list...

Ecobank Nigeria Holds 2nd Virtual Graduation Ceremony for Batch 8 Trainees

For the second time in two months, Ecobank Nigeria has...

Digital Connectivity Enhances Quality of Life – Danbatta

The Executive Vice-Chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission...

Naira Redesign: Insurers Brace for Likely Claims as Violence Spreads

  Operators in the Nigerian insurance sector are bracing up...

A Tale of Three Regimes

Since 2004 to date, the banking sector and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have welcomed three different Governors of three different governing styles. In essence, Chukwuma Soludo, Lamido Sanusi and Godwin Emefiele represent three dimensional regimes in one critical sector-Banking.For those that lived through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) regimes of Professor Chukwuma Soludo and Mallam Lamido Sanusi, it was always a difficult act to objectively locate the successes and failures of both administrations in terms of curing the banking sector of its endless Ebola diseases and building strong bricks for sustainable future growth.

Unity Bank Projects N27bn in Q4 Earnings, Targets N4bn Profit

Unity Bank Plc has projected gross earnings of N27...
spot_img

Related Articles

Popular Categories

spot_imgspot_img