MTN Nigeria has assured customers that a fresh telecom tariff increase is not expected anytime soon. The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, also clarified his recent comments about unlimited mobile data, explaining that they had been misunderstood after short clips circulated online.
Speaking during an interview on TVC’s Beyond the Headlines, Toriola said his earlier remarks at MTN’s Data on Trial public engagement focused on the technical limits of mobile networks rather than suggesting that unlimited data could never exist. He said, “People took snippets of the conversation, and the entirety of the conversation is available on YouTube. There’s nothing to be hidden there, and they took it slightly out of context.”
Explaining the issue further, Karl Toriola noted that mobile networks depend on limited spectrum resources, making unrestricted data use difficult without reducing service quality for other users. He added, “Mobile wireless technology to offer data is limited by one factor—spectrum—and spectrum is a finite resource. You cannot put an excessive load of data traffic onto a mobile network without having a degradation of the quality of service for other people.” He said many so-called unlimited data plans already operate under fair usage policies, and any future unlimited mobile data products from MTN Nigeria would follow the same approach to maintain network performance.
Addressing complaints about fast data consumption, Toriola said operators do not intentionally use customers’ data. Instead, background activities such as automatic cloud backups on WhatsApp, Google Cloud, and iCloud often consume large amounts of data without users noticing. He advised subscribers to adjust their device settings so backups run only on Wi-Fi or less frequently.
On pricing, Karl Toriola repeated that another telecom tariff increase is not close, although future economic conditions could influence pricing decisions. He said, “The increment is not imminent. But over time, depending on economic conditions, there might be possible tariff increases.” He added that the 2025 tariff review helped sustain the telecommunications industry after more than a decade without price adjustments despite rising operating costs. He also revealed that MTN Nigeria invested ₦390 billion in capital expenditure during the first quarter of the year, while fibre cuts, vandalism, poor electricity supply, and limited access to telecom infrastructure continue to affect service delivery. He said, “We have more fibre cuts in a day than the whole Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has in a year.”
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