MTN CEO: "WE WERE EFFECTIVELY BANKRUPT" BEFORE TARIFF HIKE — PLANS ₦1 TRILLION INVESTMENT IN 2026

Karl Toriola tells "Data on Trial" Lagos event tariff increase prevented network shutdown; ₦900bn invested in 2025

 The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria has disclosed that the telecommunications company was on the brink of financial collapse before the Nigerian Communications Commission approved a 50 per cent tariff increase in January 2026, saying the company was unable to pay basic bills and had slipped into effective insolvency.

Karl Toriola made the disclosure at a stakeholder engagement event themed "Data on Trial" in Lagos, hosted by media personality Ebuka Obi-Uchendu and attended by content creators, subscribers and regulators. The session was structured as a courtroom-style debate on data pricing, but it was Toriola's candid account of how close MTN came to shutting down that dominated discussions.

"At the point in time when the tariff increase was implemented, we practically could not pay our bills. There was not enough money coming into MTN's accounts to pay our bills for diesel, rent and software licences. We were effectively bankrupt. Without that tariff increase, we would have had to shut down the network," Toriola said.

He disclosed that MTN Nigeria invested ₦900 billion in network expansion and maintenance in 2025, and plans to exceed ₦1 trillion in capital spending in 2026, a figure he noted surpasses the company's annual profit. "Last year, we invested ₦900 billion. This year, we're going to invest in excess of a trillion. We invest more in the expansion and maintenance of this company than we make in profits," he said.

Toriola also linked persistent network quality challenges to vandalism, infrastructure theft, and site access issues. He said area boys blocking access to network sites, and deliberate destruction of telecom manholes, affect services for millions of subscribers. He maintained that Nigerian data prices remain among the cheapest globally even after the tariff adjustment.