High cost of mobile phones, biggest hindrance to digital inclusion in Nigeria —Toriola, MTN boss

MR Karl Toriola, the Chief Executive Officer, MTN Nigeria, has highlighted the high cost of mobile phones as a significant challenge hindering digital inclusion in the country.

He said this in an interview with Arise TV during ‘Tech into the Future’ interview hosted by Tomiwa Aladekomo and Ngozi Madueke-Dozie, which discussed digital inclusion in Nigeria and the role of the telecom ecosystem in bridging the digital divide.

Since the rollout of 5G technology in 2022, Toriola confirmed that coverage has quadrupled in the country.

“5G has been instrumental towards servicing digitisation. A lot of people are shifting their consumption from traditional voice and circuit switch services to data services and probably the biggest barrier to that is actually the cost of handsets,” he added.

Toriola further stated that while the global demand has led to a reduction in smartphone costs, Nigeria alone might not generate enough demand to bring down prices as quickly. He suggested that local assembling could help reduce production costs and eliminate customs duties, making smartphones more affordable.

Discussing financing solutions, he stressed the importance of aggregate credit scoring history for citizens to finance their mobile devices.

“There’s quite a number of companies in Africa that are working on that in partnership with us and while it may take a bit of time for that momentum to be built, our mobile money PSB (Payment Service Bank), MoMo, will enable us predict behavioural patterns and credit worthiness,” he added.