MTN Nigeria Chief Executive Officer Karl Toriola has rejected calls for unlimited mobile data plans in Nigeria, saying no operator can maintain good service if every customer uses unlimited data at low cost.
Toriola made the comments at a press event titled “Data on Trial” in Lagos last Saturday. He pushed back against growing consumer demand for cheaper, unlimited internet packages, noting that data affordability remains a major source of tension between telecom companies and subscribers in the country. He said truly unlimited mobile data does not exist anywhere except at very high price levels that most people could not afford, and that offering it cheaply in Nigeria would damage the networks needed to deliver acceptable service.
Toriola explained that the economics of network capacity make unlimited data offerings impossible at the price points many Nigerians expect. He said mobile networks have limits and that it is not feasible to build enough capacity for everyone to use unlimited bundles while still providing decent quality.
At the Lagos event, MTN Nigeria’s Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, Tobe Okigbo, said the engagement aims to determine whether complaints stem from technical problems, misunderstandings by customers, or gaps in consumer education.
Speaking on the issue, recently, reports showed that MTN Nigeria opened its data billing and network operations to public scrutiny as part of efforts to address recurring consumer complaints about data depletion and to rebuild customer trust. The initiative, called “Data on Trial,” allows Nigerians to independently examine how data is consumed and billed on MTN’s network and to raise concerns directly with the company’s technical teams.
