The CEO of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, claims that the nation’s telcos (telecommunications providers) want prices raised by 100%. On April 25, 2024, telecoms stated that since they hadn’t increased rates in the previous 11 years, their services were due for price increases.
MTN’s CEO said the boost is required to meet the rising operational costs brought on by inflation and currency devaluation during his appearance on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily’s business program on Friday.
Continuing, he had this to say: “We at MTN believe we need tariff adjustment of about 100 percent, I think the industry is pretty much aligned because we are all experiencing the same headwinds. Now, the government is very sensitive to squeezing consumers’ wallets with the pressures that have come from inflation and currency devaluation on consumers.
“So, I am not sure they will give us 100 percent, but I am optimistic they will give us something substantial, and maybe progressively over the course of the year, we can have smaller adjustments that will help us to get back to where we need to be,” he added.
Continuing, he noted that although industries such as power and airlines have modified their pricing to address growing expenses, the telecom sector has not yet done so. Nigeria probably has the second or third lowest rates in the world for both voice and data services, according to information from the global telecom sector, Toriola said.
Furthering, he holds that the suggested tariff adjustment would allow businesses to preserve and raise the caliber of their services while also ensuring the telecom sector’s long-term viability. He revealed: “What the tariff allows us to do is to continue to invest, continue to build capacity, build resilience, put in additional generators, authentic power supply system to give you stable and high-quality networks.
“So, it addresses sustainability and also enables the regulators to hold the big stick on the issue of quality of service and allows us consequently to invest in giving the quality of service Nigerians deserve,” he added.
Citing the effects of skyrocketing inflation and the government’s depreciation of the naira, the CEO called 2024 a “torrid year” for Nigeria’s telecom sector, BrandSpur telecom and information news desk reports. He praised the actions taken by legislators to guarantee the sector’s long-term viability. He reassured Nigerians that MTN and other network providers are still dedicated to maintaining their networks in response to worries about possible service interruptions if the pricing hike is not authorized.
According to him: “What I try to do is paint a realistic picture without being alarmist. The truth is that if you have any organisation that is spending 160 percent of what they earn in revenue, effectively at some point that organisation is going to shut down.
“So we are always going to act responsibly. We will use all our resources. We are keeping our networks up. We are not shutting down our networks at this point in time and we will continue to do so,” he added.
However, given the severe difficulties facing the Nigerian telecom sector, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) issued a warning on December 30, 2024, that if immediate action is not taken to review pricing, its members may start to cut services.
