Data Depletion: Unlimited Data Not Sustainable on Mobile Networks, Telco CEO Insists

The growing agitation by telecom subscribers for unlimited mobile data plans and an end to data expiry may be unrealistic under Nigeria’s current telecommunications environment, according to the chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria, Dr Karl Toriola.

He disclosed this in Lagos during MTN’s “Data on Trial” engagement, Toriola argued that offering unlimited mobile data at affordable rates could undermine the financial sustainability of operators and ultimately affect service quality.

His remarks come amid increasing consumer complaints over rising data costs, data depletion rates and the validity periods attached to purchased bundles.

According to the MTN boss, many instances of rapid data depletion are linked to user behaviour and device settings rather than network operators.

He, however, cited cases involving heavy background data consumption, including a staff member whose laptop reportedly consumed between 120 and 156 gigabytes of data overnight due to configuration settings.

Toriola also recounted another incident involving a customer who complained about fast data depletion on a 5G router, only for MTN officials to discover that YouTube videos were streaming continuously in the customer’s home.

The MTN chief executive pointed to broader infrastructure and security challenges affecting telecom operations nationwide.

“We are in a country where area boys will block us from working. We are in a country where there is no reliable electricity. We are in a country where someone can light up a manhole and affect 30,000 subscribers or base stations serving up to two million people,” he stated.

Toriola said such incidents often contribute more to service disruptions than data consumption issues.

While addressing calls for unlimited mobile data, he maintained that no operator globally can sustainably offer unrestricted access on mobile networks at low prices.

“The issue of unlimited data on mobile networks, it doesn’t exist anywhere in the world, except you are paying something, maybe $400 a month or whatever it is

“There is a limit because you can never build enough capacity for everyone to be on an unlimited bundle and think you can provide a quality of service that is decent,” he said.

He compared the demand for unlimited data to offering unrestricted airline tickets at heavily discounted rates, arguing that such a model would eventually become unsustainable.

“If you decide to give everybody in Nigeria unlimited air flights, local air tickets, for a silly number like N200,000 a month, do you think the airline industry will survive? They won’t. It doesn’t work that way. We cannot give unlimited data on mobile,” he added.

The MTN Chief also defended the recent tariff adjustment approved for telecom operators, saying the measure was necessary to prevent a collapse of the industry.

According to him, operators were struggling to meet critical operational expenses before the tariff review.

“The tariff increase was implemented for one primary reason to allow the industry to survive. At the point when the tariff increase was implemented, we practically could not. We were on the verge of shutting down sites because there was not enough money to pay our bills for diesel, rental and software licences,” he said.

He further disclosed that MTN was technically insolvent before the adjustment. “In the period when the tariff increase was implemented, technically speaking, we were insolvent. We were in negative equity for those who are financial people. So it was necessary for the industry first just to survive,” Toriola stated.

The comments highlight the continuing tension between consumer demands for cheaper and more flexible internet access and operators’ concerns about rising operating costs, network investments and infrastructure challenges.

While insisting that mobile data in Nigeria remains among the cheapest globally, Toriola challenged critics and industry observers to compare local pricing with rates obtainable in other African countries and international markets.

“Go and check in Kenya, go and check in Congo, go and check across the world and tell me if you are not going to conclude that data in Nigeria is one of the cheapest in the world,” he said.

He added that broader adoption of fibre broadband infrastructure could eventually provide consumers with more affordable and near-unlimited internet access, noting that fibre networks are better suited to support heavy data consumption than mobile networks.