Areview of MTN Nigeria’s financial statements by SaharaReporters has shown that the organisation recorded a major increase in operation costs as of over one year.

According to the financial statement, the giant telecoms company recorded an operation cost of N1.1 trillion as of September 2024, an increase from the N575 billion recorded as of September 2023.

The cost of sales for the firm also increased from N289 billion posted as of September 2023, to N382 billion as of September 2024.
The development meant that MTN posted a profit before tax of N713.6 billion and profit after tax of N514.9 billion.

This also comes amid calls by MTN for a review in the tariffs, occasioned by the rising operations cost.

In October, the MTN Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, was reported as saying that the company would be forced to shut down without a tariff increase.
He noted that the telecommunications sector had been recording significant losses and that efforts must be put in place to reverse the situation.

He argued that his organization is operating on reserves, which is unsustainable on the long run.

“There should be no delusion; if the tariff doesn’t go up, we will shut down,” he said, underscoring the urgent need for tariff adjustments to reflect economic realities.

The Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) had also told Newsmen that there might be load shedding in the country’s telecommunications sector if economic challenges persisted.

In July, the Chairman of the association, Gbenga Adebayo, lamented the struggles faced by players in the telecoms industry, saying, “We have complained about sustainability of telecommunications businesses and spoken about the need to review policies including interventions but we have not gotten to the stage of load shedding.”

When quipped about the possibility of load shedding if the issues raised persisted, he said there was a possibility of load shedding given the current economic issues facing telecom companies.
He said, “We don’t pray we get to that stage but if the issues raised persist, load shedding may occur.

“We have had similar cases in the electricity sector, there was a time we used to have 18 hours of electricity in this country but that is no longer the case even though the government started doing things like Band A, B and C.”
He also identified taxation as one of the issues affecting the sector.