Telecommunication giant MTN Group is looking to increase tariffs for its voice and data services in Nigeria to mitigate foreign exchange volatility.
Africa’s biggest telecoms operator reported a decline in annual profit on Monday on the back of a loss after tax of 137 billion naira by its Nigerian operations and rising cost of operation.
MTN Group’s chief executive Ralph Mupita said the company was already in discussion with the Nigerian authorities in that regard.
“Given our expense profile in Nigeria, we need some tariff increases to mitigate the cost of running the networks,” Mupita said.
“We obviously are engaged with the authorities and regulators to get some tariff increases for both voice and data, so that we can actually absorb some of the inflation-related and FX impacts that are in our operating costs, particularly the network operating costs.”
A large chunk of the network expenses is driven by the contracts MTN Nigeria has with cell tower operators IHS Holdings Limited and ATC Africa.
MTN said it was working to renegotiate some of these contracts to mitigate the spiking cost of operation. Although, it announced a new deal with ATC Africa last November for its Nigerian operations.
Under the deal, ATC Africa is expected to facilitate new tenancies for MTN Nigeria over a multi-year period, commencing in the second half of 2024.
“We are in conversations with IHS, in particular around some of our top contracts,” Mupita said.
“We have sat down and we are looking at aspects that we can renegotiate to lessen the impact.
