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The Federal Ministry of Communications (FMC) has threatened to impose sanctions on MTN Group, Africa’s largest mobile operator, if the company fails to meet a December 31st deadline to pay the $3.9 billion fine imposed on it by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

In an interview with AFP today, Victor Oluwadamilare, FMC’s spokesman, said MTN must meet the deadline despite an ongoing court case.

"If MTN fails to meet the deadline today (Thursday), the regulatory body will enforce the fine," Oluwadamilare told AFP.

"The court case is not tantamount to extending the deadline," he said.

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had fined MTN $5.2 billion in October for failing to comply with a directive to disconnect five million unregistered phone lines. Following intense negotiations and an appeal for leniency by the telecoms giant, the NCC cut the fine by 25 percent to $3.9 billion payable by December 31st.

But MTN is challenging the NCC decision at a Federal High Court in Lagos. Pending the judicial outcome, all parties re restrained from taking further action.

In the aftermath of the NCC fine, MTN’s share price crashed by more than 20 percent and several executives have resigned, including former group CEO, Sifiso Dabengwa.

Chibuike Oguh is Financial Nigeria's Frontier Markets Analyst