MTN Nigeria, a prominent telecom giant, has initiated legal action against more than twenty commercial banks in its concerted effort to recuperate an interconnect debt amounting to approximately N3 billion from SleekChip Technologies Limited. This aggressive recovery drive follows a definitive judgment handed down by the Federal High Court in Abuja, which favored MTN.

The core of the dispute centers on an interconnect service debt incurred by SleekChip Technologies, an international Direct Access and National Transit service provider in Nigeria, between January 2022 and October 2022. Justice Peter Lifu, in a court order issued in November 2024, mandated SleekChip to pay MTN the sum of $1,971,409.85. Crucially, the court also stipulated an interest rate of 2 percent above the Nigerian Interbank Offer Rate, to be calculated on the judgment sum from January 31, 2022 (when payment was due) until the debt is fully liquidated. This interest structure is specifically designed to mitigate the effects of inflation during the prolonged payment period.

Leveraging this favorable judgment, MTN swiftly launched garnishee proceedings against a consortium of over twenty banks. These proceedings aim to attach the judgment sum, which, as of November 7, 2024 (the judgment day), was converted to N3,284,055,355.93 using the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Naira-dollar equivalent rate of N1,665.8410:$1. A garnishee proceeding is a legal mechanism allowing a judgment creditor to recover a debt from a third party (in this case, banks) that holds assets belonging to the judgment debtor (SleekChip). MTN's legal team further detailed the attachment of an additional N1,926,786,156.47, representing interest on the principal judgment sum as calculated up to November 7, 2024, as per Justice Lifu's order.

During court proceedings on May 16, 2025, MTN's legal representatives informed the Federal High Court in Abuja that they had received affidavits from "virtually" all involved banks, providing details of SleekChip Technologies’ funds domiciled within their institutions. Consequently, MTN requested the court to discharge over 10 of these banks from the garnishee proceedings, as SleekChip was found to have no accounts with them. While Justice Lifu granted the discharge for the identified banks, a point of contention arose when the banks challenged MTN’s request for further searches on SleekChip Technologies’ accounts using associated Bank Verification Number (BVN) numbers, arguing that such orders were never issued by the court. The case was subsequently adjourned to June 26, 2025, for further hearing.

The genesis of this interconnect rate debt can be traced back to July 23, 2019, when MTN Nigeria and SleekChip formalized a network interconnect agreement. Under this agreement, both parties committed to exchanging calls between their networks for a specified fee, known as interconnect charges, in strict adherence to the agreement's terms and the provisions of the Nigerian Communication Act. An interconnect rate defines the payment telecommunication operators make to each other for calls that terminate on their respective networks.

Following the terms of their arrangement, it became apparent that SleekChip had accrued a debt of $1,971,409.85 to MTN between January 2022 and October 2022 due to calls and messages exchanged. MTN rigorously pursued the outstanding amount, sending numerous demand notices to SleekChip from February 2022 through October 2022. Despite these demands, SleekChip, in a letter dated May 30, 2023, offered a commitment to settle the indebted sum by July 20, 2023. However, this promise went unfulfilled, compelling MTN to escalate the matter through legal channels. The network provider also highlighted that SleekChip failed to adhere to Clause 6.5 of their agreement, which allowed sixty days from the invoice date to challenge any invoice, a right SleekChip never exercised. MTN's legal team explicitly stated, "The defendant has since failed, refused, and neglected to liquidate its indebtedness to the applicant without justification. The defendant has never disputed the debt but has admitted its indebtedness to the applicant."

Justice Lifu's judgment was also informed by the fact that SleekChip did not file any defense on the merits against MTN’s case. With satisfactory proof of service and hearing notices, the court proceeded to order SleekChip to pay the judgment sum, adhering to established court rules.

This particular case is part of a broader, ongoing initiative by MTN Nigeria aimed at recovering outstanding debts from interconnect services rendered to various Value Added Service (VAS) providers. In 2023, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) granted MTN approval to disconnect certain VAS operators, including SleekChip Technologies and Exchange Telecommunications Limited, due to their failure to settle interconnect debts. The NCC affirmed its decision, stating that, after reviewing applications and circumstances, "the affected licensees do not have sufficient and or any justifiable reason for non-payment of the international interconnect charges and therefore decided to grant approval as requested."

Interconnect debt issues are not isolated incidents within the Nigerian telecoms sector. In 2024, the NCC had to intervene in a similar dispute between MTN and Globacom, approving a partial disconnection of Globacom over its refusal to pay interconnect debt, though this specific issue was later resolved after the two operators reached an agreement. Historically, in 2019, interconnect debt across the Nigerian telecoms industry was estimated at a staggering 165 billion naira (approximately $544 million at the time), with MTN accounting for about 45 percent of these debts, predominantly owed by VAS providers, vendors, and other operators, underscoring the systemic nature of the challenge.