MTN Nigeria has rejected claims that telecom companies intentionally drain customer data, attributing rapid data depletion to high-resolution video streaming, automatic downloads, background apps, cloud backups, and increased overall internet usage.
The telecom operator explained that smartphone settings and background applications frequently consume heavy data volumes without subscribers’ active knowledge.
Speaking at a forum tagged “Data on Trial,” held in Abuja on Monday on the sidelines of the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit, MTN Nigeria General Manager of Network Performance, Mike Ndukwe, said data consumption was largely determined by subscribers’ activities and device configurations.
“We’re not stealing your data. However, we completely understand how it feels, especially right now, where every amount counts. But the honest answer is that data is not taken without an action, either your action or your phone,” he said.
According to Ndukwe, the amount of bandwidth used by apps like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, and WhatsApp varies based on the video resolution, automated playback, and download frequency.
He claims that depending on its quality, a 15-second TikTok video might use two to twenty megabytes, and that streaming in high definition uses significantly more data than watching in standard definition.
Although status updates, movies, group conversations, and automatic media downloads might deplete subscriptions more quickly than users expected, he added that WhatsApp communications often use very little data.
“If your WhatsApp is set on auto-download, straight away it hits your data bundle. And that is where you can optimise some of your settings,” Ndukwe noted.
Backstory…
Complaints about rapid data depletion have remained a recurring source of frustration for Nigerian telecom subscribers for years, with many questioning why their data bundles run out even when they believe they have used the internet sparingly.
The issue has repeatedly drawn the attention of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), which has sought to establish whether the complaints stem from billing errors, complex tariff structures or data-consuming activities on users’ devices.
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