The CEO of MTN Mr. Carl Toriola yesterday said that the obvious sustainability challenges the telcos are facing in recent times need urgent attention to restore the entire ICT sector.
Toriola revealed this at an event convened by the Financial Derivatives Company, FDC, titled ‘’Telecom Industry 2.0: The Next Investment Frontier in Nigeria.’’ Which addressed concerns bothering telecom services in the country.
Toriola who joined the meeting through Zoom posited that despite the growth over the past two decades of liberalisation, the sector is currently under threat as a result of the rising costs and unsustainable pricing.
“Price increase has become imperative, it is now an absolute necessity because the sector is in an intensive care unit and needs urgent rescue to avoid total collapse”.
According to Toriola: “our fundamental challenge is that the financial returns expected from the industry are now so low that they threaten its very survival.
“Nobody is going to put in $1 with the expected return of 60 cents on the dollar.
“There’s no way under the surface of the earth, in the kind of inflationary environment and forex devaluation that we’ve seen, that industry can maintain prices the same for 11 years.
“The telecoms sector has faced escalating costs across the board — from the cost of capital to the soaring expenses of maintaining infrastructure like base stations and diesel generators.
“Without adjustments to pricing, the industry’s ability to function and attract investment is in jeopardy.”
However, despite complains from telecom operators about inconveniences faced in providing telecom services in Nigeria, the regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, in its reaction seem not to be moved by the operators’ threat.
