[Oops] NCC Says MTN Fine Was Reduced To $3.9b Not $3.4b...Error Due To Typo

MTN Group Ltd. had its record fine in Nigeria increased $500 million to $3.9 billion after the country’s telecommunications regulator said it wrote the incorrect penalty in an earlier letter to Africa’s largest phone company.

“There was a typo,” Nigerian Communication Commission spokesman Tony Ojobo said by phone on Friday, referring to a letter dated Dec. 2 that reduced the original $5.2 billion penalty to $3.4 billion. “The reduction should have been 25 percent. We saw the mistake and had to fix it.”

The shares traded 3.7 percent lower at 134.80 rand as of 11:38 a.m. in Johannesburg, the lowest since Nov. 17. The stock has fallen about 30 percent since the fine was made public on Oct. 26.