Nigeria fines MTN, others $7.38 mln for bad service

ABUJA May 20 (Reuters) - Nigeria's telecoms regulator fined the country's four main mobile operators, including MTN and Bharti Airtel, a total of 1.17 billion naira ($7.38 million) on Sunday for poor-quality service.

The telecoms industry is hugely profitable in Nigeria, Africa's second-biggest economy and home to some 160 million people, but users complain that the service is poor, with frequent dropped calls and network interruptions.

"The penalties are as a result of the contravention of the provisions of the quality of service regulations by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) as the operators failed to meet with the minimum standard of quality of service" during May and April, an NCC statement said.

There was no immediate reaction from the operators, although MTN has complained that sabotage of its equipment and shutdowns by state agencies over tax disputes in some parts of Nigeria are impeding improvements to its service.

MTN and Etisalat were fined 360 million naira each, Bharti Airtel was ordered to pay 270 million naira and Globacom, a privately owned network of Nigerian billionaire tycoon Mike Adenuga, got a 180-million-naira bill. ($1 = 158.5500 naira) (Reporting by Camillus Eboh; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Dale Hudson)