Karl Toriola spent 2025 restoring MTN Nigeria’s financial and operational momentum after one of the most difficult periods in the company’s history. With inflation, currency depreciation, and rising energy costs bearing down on the business, his focus narrowed to disciplined execution, protecting the core network, stabilising cash flow, and rebuilding shareholder confidence.
Operationally, MTN remained Nigeria’s largest network. As of October 2025, the company served 91 million subscribers and continued to lead in 4G and 5G coverage, underpinned by sustained capital investment in fibre expansion and network densification. By September 2025, cumulative capital expenditure had crossed ₦757.4 billion.
Toriola’s greatest 2025 achievement was restoring MTN to profit and sustaining revenue growth. MTN’s revenue increased by 57.5% to ₦3.7 trillion, and profit after tax hit ₦750.2 billion in September 2024, from a loss after tax of ₦514.9 billion in the corresponding period of 2025.
This paved the way for the telecoms giant to declare a dividend of ₦5.60 per share, its first to shareholders since August 2023. This recovery was driven by tighter pricing discipline, aggressive cost optimisation, reduced foreign exchange exposure, and improved tariff alignment—an issue Toriola was notably vocal about throughout last year.
Beyond connectivity, MTN’s MoMo scaled further as a payments and collections channel, while the company completed the first phase of its $235 million data centre, marking its formal entry into commercial data hosting and a deeper push into cloud infrastructure.
In 2025, Toriola’s leadership was measured in resilience more than expansion. By keeping the network running, restoring dividends, and steadying the balance sheet, he repositioned MTN Nigeria not just as a telecoms giant, but as a durable economic utility while setting the pace for its first ₦5 trillion revenue year in an increasingly digital and fragile operating environment.
