MTN Nigeria has justified the recent increase in telecom tariffs, saying the adjustment was necessary to keep the industry financially sustainable and support large-scale investments aimed at improving service delivery across the country.
The telecommunications giant said it is committing about ₦900 billion to network expansion and upgrades in 2025, with plans to raise investment to roughly ₦1 trillion in 2026 as part of efforts to improve connectivity and meet growing customer demand.
Speaking on the need for the tariff adjustment, MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, during the company’s “Data on Trial” stakeholder engagement forum held in Lagos over the weekend, maintained that the increase was essential given the sharp rise in operating costs, inflationary pressures, and the depreciation of the naira.
He said; “The tariff increase was implemented for one primary reason: to allow the industry to survive. At the point in time when the tariff increase was implemented, we practically could not pay our bills.”
He noted that telecom operators had faced mounting financial challenges while tariffs remained largely unchanged for years.
Toriola said the company’s immediate focus is to address service quality concerns by investing heavily in network infrastructure.
According to him, MTN expects subscribers to experience noticeable improvements as new equipment is deployed and additional capacity is added across key locations.
Explaining the scale of the investment, the MTN boss stated: “We’ll probably do more than twice the capital expenditure that we did in 2023 and 2024 this year.”
He also stressed that the company’s aggressive spending programme is intended to resolve persistent network challenges and satisfy both regulatory expectations and customer demands for better service.
MTN said the investments will support network expansion, improve coverage, strengthen resilience, and enhance the quality of voice and data services nationwide.
The company further indicated that continued investment in telecommunications infrastructure remains critical to Nigeria’s digital economy ambitions, especially as demand for broadband, data services, and emerging technologies continues to grow.