MTN Nigeria CEO Karl Toriola has said that offering unlimited mobile data at low prices is not possible without affecting network quality.
Speaking at a press conference in Lagos on Saturday, he said no mobile operator anywhere in the world can provide truly unlimited data at cheap rates while still keeping a reliable network.
He explained that most “unlimited” plans already come with usage limits or fair-use policies, while real unlimited packages are usually very costly.
Toriola added that telecom companies cannot build enough network capacity for every customer to use unlimited data at the same time.
“The idea of unlimited data on mobile networks does not really exist unless customers are paying very high prices. There is always a limit or fair-use policy,” he said.
He compared it to airlines, saying no airline would survive if it offered unlimited flights at very low prices.
According to him, cheap unlimited data would also reduce investment in network infrastructure, which would lead to poor service quality.
Meanwhile, MTN has introduced a new initiative called “Data on Trial” to respond to customer complaints about data usage and billing.
The programme helps customers understand how data is used on the network and allows them to raise concerns directly with MTN’s technical team.
Tobe Okigbo said the goal is to find out whether complaints come from technical faults, customer misunderstanding, or a lack of knowledge about how data works.
