Nigeria’s leading telecommunications company, MTN has come under fire by its customers over their rapidly depleting voice and data bundles. The customers took to X (formerly Twitter), to call-out the company about how they’ve been experiencing unexplained depletion in their voice and data subscriptions.
Subscribers who expressed their dissatisfaction on the social media platform alleged that the amount of data usage when compared to their total data subscription is not adding up.
A customer, @TheSerahIbrahim, who claimed to have been experiencing this discrepancy since December noted that the data runs out quickly and disappears.
“MTN is saying I’m out of data in 6 days, exhausting my monthly data that normally rolls over, but now exhausts in 6 days doing absolutely nothing but X. Here’s the crazy part, my phone is reading that I only used one app more which is X, and it’s 8gb used by X in 6 days, and a 57% total data used on my phone in 6 days, so the rest of the 43% data just disappeared,” the user added.
The reaction comes at the height of the recent 50% tariff hike by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) which saw various adjustments in data and voice calls by Nigerian mobile operators with notable MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, and Globacom.
The adjustment was met with mixed justifications from telecom stakeholders and consumers’ associations as well as subscribers as it came at a time most Nigerians were experiencing economic distress fueled by a declining economy. Rising inflation and a fall in the value of the naira had led to a reduction in the purchasing power of Nigerians.
An uneasy balance was achieved when the NCC mandated telecom providers to ensure that implementation of the new tariffs led to a commensurate improvement in service quality. However, that doesn’t seem to be the case for these MTN Nigeria subscribers.
An X user lamented: “1tb turns to 400gb and 40gb turns to 25Gb with the rest of your data not being accounted for, and we are paying more for data prices. If the data is expensive let it be quality and serve it purpose. You can’t give us rubbish and still increase the prices. Multi-nationals are just ripping Nigerians off. Situations they cannot try in other countries.”
Another user, @iamDo2dtun, expressed his dissatisfaction: “MTN need to stop what they are doing. This data and credit zapping is becoming extremely ridiculous .. kilode! Una wan kill us with billing for this country”
Also, @Solomon27297941 called out on MTN Nigeria where he demanded an explanation to the voice call deductions: “Not only data. This happens to me few days ago. I only had an 11 secs call on MTN pulse @23k/sec I was supposed to be charged #2.53 instead they charge #7.75. They have been carrying out all sort of dubious activities on all customer.”
X user, @iam_MrShow shared his own disappointment on the issue. “till today there’s still no reasonable explanation on how 17gb disappeared from my line. 17gb in the morning, 0mb few hours later. One agent said it’ll be restored after 24hrs, another agent on X said I exhausted it, even when the phone was inactive.”
Similar Read: Telecom subscribers grew by 2.66% to 169.3 million as Nigerians use 1 million terabytes of data in Jan 2025.
MTN Nigeria’s Response
Following a heap of allegations on social media platforms, MTN Nigeria made a couple of replies.
“Yello! Apologies for the data depletion complaint and for not replying sooner. Please be informed that MTN network data is offered as is, customers are charged on their data bundle based on the internet activities on their lines,” MTN Nigeria said in one of its replies.
In another response, the mobile operator apologized for the data depletion, explaining that data is depleted based on a variety of factors, ranging from device type to network mode selected and the volume of Internet usage.
Likewise, MTN Nigeria also reconfirmed its recent tariff adjustment, noting that various information on the development is on its website.
“There has been a price adjustment and this is to enable us to service you better. Some voice call rate and data bundle prices have been adjusted and information is available on all our channels.”
Underserving despite tariff hike
In another similar reaction, telecom subscribers in Anambra, Ebonyi, and Enugu States have ruled out the recent increase in telecom tariffs by the Federal Government, noting that it was not in line with the service offered.
A report by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the impact of the tariff hike in the zone described it as an “act of injustice”. Subscribers described the development as a “burden,” which has forced most Nigerians to use data calls as alternatives to direct calls while noting that only the first-class citizens are exempted from feeling the impact of the hike in tariff.
As part of strategies to cope with the voice and data tariff increase, some telecom subscribers juggle and switch from one network provider to another in search of the most preferable plan. This also erupts from the need to cut costs and get a plan that suits their pocket.
For telecom operators, the tariff hike follows months of complaints about the rising cost of operation due to naira depreciation and economic performance fall. Therein, they also seek to leverage the adjustment in balancing their financial books.
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