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The Executive Chairman of MTN Group, Phuthuma Nhleko, said that the company may delay the planned listing of its Nigerian unit until 2018 in order to resolve a regulatory dispute, according to a Bloomberg report. Nhleko also said the telecoms giant may defer the share listing as it awaits an economic recovery in Africa’s largest economy.

“It’s a work in progress and hopefully within the 12 to 18-month period we will be able to do it,’’ Nhleko said at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. “Regulatory issues need to be resolved, and the macro conditions need to have improved.”

In August last year, MTN announced that it would list its Nigerian unit on the local stock exchange this year as part of a deal with the Nigerian government to settle a regulatory fine relating to the telecom company’s failure to disconnect five million unregistered SIM cards. MTN also agreed to pay N330 billion over three years.

Following the conclusion of the deal, MTN has faced fresh accusations of regulatory impropriety after Dino Melaye, the Senator representing Kogi West, accused the mobile operator of illegally repatriating $14 billion out of Nigeria over ten years. The latest dispute has threatened to delay the planned listing, Bloomberg reported.

“We’ve always intended to list – we have reaffirmed that with the government,” said Nhleko, who will revert to his prior role as non-executive chairman when Rob Shuter, the CEO designate, resumes in March. “Clearly, we can only list when the conditions are conducive.”

MTN Nigeria is the group’s largest and most profitable subsidiary – as well as Nigeria’s largest mobile operator – with over 60 million users. MTN operations in 22 countries in Africa and Middle East, with a total of about 235 million users.

But since the fine was announced in 2015, MTN’s shares have lost about a third of its value. The company’s share price traded at 125.02 rand of 8.02 GMT in Johannesburg on Friday, valuing the company at 236 billion rand ($17 billion).