MTN’s business in Syria has been placed under judicial guardianship after it was accused of breaching its licence conditions. The move comes as the mobile network operator negotiates the sale of its 75% stake in MTN Syria for $65-million (R978-million) as a first step to exiting the Middle East.
The company said on Friday that Syria’s Ministry of Telecommunications and the Syrian Telecommunications and Post Regulatory Authority had filed a lawsuit before the administrative court of Damascus on 17 February 2021 seeking interim measures against MTN Syria.
The court appointed the chairman of Teleinvest, the minority shareholder in MTN Syria, to serve as the judicial guardian and take responsibility for managing the business’s day-to-day operations. It said MTN Syria remained a going concern.