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Emirates Telecommunications Group (Etisalat) has sued MTN Nigeria over the recent acquisition of Visafone Communications Limited.

In a press statement released on Monday, Etisalat said it took legal action against MTN to prevent the potential use of Visafone’s 800 megahertz spectrum since this will “entrench the dominance of MTN in the retail data services market.”

In 2013, the Nigerian Communications Commission declared that MTN Nigeria had become dominant in the mobile-voice market. MTN, which is still in talks with the NCC to resolve a $3.9 billion fine, is the largest mobile operator in Nigeria, with over 62 million subscribers; Globacom and Bharti Airtel have about 31 million each, while Etisalat has about 23 million subscribers.

“The use of the 800MHz spectrum to deploy broadband services ahead of its competitors, particularly those who, prior to MTN’s purchase of Visafone, held similar spectrum bands as MTN, will further entrench MTN’s dominance in the Nigerian telecommunications sector,” the statement said.

In addition to its legal action against MTN Nigeria, Etisalat said it would engage the NCC to understand why MTN was allowed to acquire Visafone.