The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has launched its first review of the Mobile Termination Rate (MTR) in 8 years, appointing KPMG to lead a 4-months consultancy and stakeholder engagement. The MTR (which is the wholesale charge networks pay each other when calls cross networks) has remained at N3.90 per minute for incumbents and N4.70 for new entrants since 2018. Industry stakeholders say those rates are now outdated after sharp naira depreciation, high inflation, and rising energy costs that have raised operator CAPEX and OPEX.
NCC’s Head of Competition and Tariff, Omotayo Mohammed, warns that misaligned termination rates can allow dominant operators to squeeze out smaller rivals, deter investment, and push up consumer prices. The study will update cost-reflective MTRs across 2G–5G and operator categories, review clearing-house arrangements, set an updated International Termination Rate (ITR) to tackle grey-route traffic, and create a formal pricing framework for MVNO onboarding and interconnection. It will also reassess retail price floors and caps, and address treatment of USSD (critical for mobile financial services) and A2P SMS (growing commercial importance).
Acting under the Nigerian Communications Act, the NCC has committed to transparency by publishing its methodology, assumptions and cost parameters and giving stakeholders structured opportunities to comment and validate findings. The review aims to align rates with current cost realities—supporting consumer affordability and access to digital financial services, enabling operators to recover costs, preserving competition, and encouraging efficient infrastructure investment as Nigeria positions itself as a digital hub.
