The Nigerian Communications Commission has suspended the phased disconnection of Globacom from MTN network for a period of 21 days.

This is contained in a statement by NCC Director of Public Affairs, Dr Reuben Muoka on Thursday in Abuja.

Mr Muoka said the commission expected MTN and Glo to resolve outstanding issues within the 21-day period given.

He said the NCC insisted that interconnection debts must be settled by operating companies as a necessary component towards compliance with regulatory obligations of all licensees.

“The commission is pleased to announce that the parties have now reached an agreement to resolve all outstanding issues between them. For this reason, and in exercise of its regulatory powers in that regard, the commission has put the phased disconnection on hold for a period of 21 days from today. The commission expects MTN and Glo to resolve all outstanding issues within the 21-day period.

“The commission insists that interconnect debts must be settled by all operating companies as a necessary component towards compliance with regulatory obligations of all licensees. It is obligatory that mobile network operators and other licensees in the telecom industry keep to the terms and conditions of their licenses, especially as contained in their interconnection agreements,” he said.

The commission had earlier given a pre-disconnection notice to inform subscribers of the approval granted to MTN to disconnect Globacom with the effect from January 18.

The disconnection is due to long-standing interconnection debt dispute between the parties.

The NCC on January 8 approved MTN’s request to partially disconnect Glo from its network over unpaid interconnection charges.

The partial disconnection means that Globacom’s subscribers will be unable to place calls to any MTN number but can receive calls from MTN users.

(NAN)