Carl Toriola, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of MTN, has cautioned that the latest attempt to reinstate the 5% excise tax on telecom services will be detrimental to the operations of telecom operators in Nigeria, including MTN Nigeria.
The National Assembly recently proposed the introduction of 5% excise duty on telecommunications, gaming, and betting services.
However, Toriola while responding to questions when Cohort 3 of the MTN Media Innovation Programme, MTN-MIP, Fellows paid him a courtesy visit in his office in Ikoyi, said that the legislators, who are pushing for the tax regime on telecom, are playing with fire, because the Act will be forcing the telcos to go the way of Nigeria’s former national carrier, NITEL.
He reiterated his earlier position that the telecom sector is currently in the Intensive Care Unit, ICU, and may die off at any moment
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He said the telcos existing at the moment are only spending their reserves which will run out sooner than later.
“Make no mistake about it, there is no way you’ll treat a sector that is adding over 15 percent to the GDP the way the telecom sector is being treated in Nigeria.
“Some fundamentals have to change or something drastic will happen. MTN and the entire industry are in a dire situation.
“We are all making losses because of the naira devaluation. There should be no delusion. If the tariff doesn’t go up, we will shut down.
“Already, we are regressing the way of NITEL and it is a matter of time; the country could be without any telecom operator,” he said.
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