Telecommunications operators said the 50 per cent tariff hike handed to them last year has caused about N4 trillion in investment inflow into telecom infrastructure expansion and upgrades of existing facilities in the country.

Specifically, the players under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) said tariff hike intervention is already evident across the sector.

Speaking in Lagos yesterday, while welcoming plans by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to review the current Mobile Termination Rate (MTR) in the industry, ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, said operators, tower companies and other industry participants have continued to invest heavily in network infrastructure and service improvements.

He said that between when the tariff was approved, which was 2025 and now, about N4 trillion investments have further expanded the industry’s infrastructure.

“In 2025, the sector recorded total capital expenditure of approximately N2.13 trillion, while planned capital expenditure for 2026 stands at approximately N1.86 trillion. All thanks to the tariff increase,” he stated.

Adebayo said the industry remained grateful for the Commission’s intervention in facilitating the tariff adjustment, which provided much-needed relief to operators amidst unprecedented increases in operating costs.

Further to the NCC Stakeholder Consultative Forum on the Determination of MTR, Adebayo commended the NCC for convening the consultative engagement and for its continued commitment to transparent, evidence-based regulation and stakeholder collaboration in advancing the Nigerian telecommunications sector.

He submitted that the issue of MTR remains fundamental to the health, sustainability, and competitiveness of the industry, stressing that it is therefore important that any review of these rates is guided by current market realities and the broader objective of ensuring a sustainable ecosystem.

Indeed, NCC has initiated a comprehensive consultancy study to review the MTR, marking the first such review in eight years. It is currently an asymmetric voice termination rate.

The current MTR, which is the wholesale charge one network pays another when its customers place calls to different networks, has remained stagnant at N3.90 per minute for generic operators (calls from small operators to big players) and N4.70 for new entrants (big operators to small players) since 2018, despite transformative changes in Nigeria’s economic and technological environment.

Industry stakeholders have long argued that the outdated rate regime no longer reflects operational realities. Since the last determination, Nigeria has witnessed significant naira depreciation, soaring inflation, and spiralling energy costs that have fundamentally altered cost structures.

Presenting the Consultancy Document, NCC Head of Competition and Tariff, Omotayo Mohammed, said: “The foundation of wholesale interconnection affects every stakeholder in this room, emphasising that misaligned termination rates can enable dominant operators to foreclose smaller competitors, deter infrastructure investment, and ultimately burden.”

She noted that the rapid deployment of 5G networks, coupled with the emergence of AI-driven services and Internet of Things (IoT) applications, has reshaped network usage patterns in ways not anticipated by the 2018 cost model.

She noted that Over-the-Top (OTT) players like WhatsApp and Telegram continue to capture significant voice and messaging traffic, reducing reliance on traditional interconnection and weakening legacy wholesale revenue streams.

With KPMG appointed to carry out the tasks and engage stakeholders within the next four months for new rates, Mohammed said the study will also address critical gaps in the current framework, including the treatment of USSD services, which underpin mobile financial services for millions of unbanked Nigerians, and Application-to-Person (A2P) SMS, whose commercial significance has grown substantially.

The document noted that operating under Sections 4, 96, 97, and 108 of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, the NCC is mandated to promote investment, protect consumer interests, and foster fair competition.

The study will deliver, among other things, cost-reflective MTR determination across technology generations (2G-5G), operator categories, and clearing house arrangements; updated International Termination Rate (ITR) to address grey-route traffic concerns; formal pricing framework for Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) onboarding and interconnection; review of retail price floors and caps to ensure alignment with current cost structures, and Assessment of the asymmetric rate structure between large and new entrant operators.

The consultancy document promises an evidence-based, consultative approach, with stakeholders given structured opportunities to submit views and validate assumptions before any determination.

For consumers, the review promises rates that reflect actual service costs, not outdated 2018 figures, supporting retail affordability and improved access to digital financial services.

Operators stand to benefit from cost recovery reflecting CAPEX and OPEX realities, while a level playing field will prevent dominant operators from exploiting inflated termination barriers.

Perhaps most critically, the document noted that the rates that signal the true cost of infrastructure provision will reward efficient investment and provide the transparency and predictability essential for both domestic and foreign investment—a crucial consideration as Nigeria positions itself as Africa’s digital hub.

The NCC pledged to make all methodology, key assumptions, and cost model parameters available for stakeholder review, ensuring transparency throughout the process.

Speaking on behalf of the President, Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON), Tony Emoekepre, ATCON NEC Member (Coordinator, Telephone Operators) Chidi Ibisi noted that the review is timely, as a stable and transparent MTR is essential for ensuring that smaller operators are not priced out of the market by dominant players.

“To ensure the participation and sustainability of new entrants and smaller telecom operators with less than 10 per cent market share, we respectfully recommend the retention of the current structure of asymmetric mobile termination rates.