Blessing Ibunge in Port Harcourt
The Mobile Telecommunications Network (MTN) Nigeria has defended its data billing practices, insisting that it does not “steal” customers’ data, but acknowledged growing concerns among subscribers over unexplained data depletion.
The telecom giant made the clarification in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, during its “Data on Trial” initiative, a courtroom-style engagement designed to allow customers to question MTN officials over how their data is consumed.
The event, held at the weekend, featured customers and content creators as the prosecution, while MTN executives constituted the defence team.
MTN’s Chief Customer Relations and Experience Officer, Ugonwa Nwoye, said the initiative was a response to persistent complaints from customers who wanted greater visibility into their data consumption.
According to her, “customers have been telling us that they want to know what uses their data,” adding that the company had embarked on sensitisation campaigns for about two years before deciding to introduce face-to-face engagements. What we want is a better understanding for our customers about how their data is used, how they can track the use of their data on their phone or on platforms that we have built for them.”
MTN Nigeria’s General Manager, Network Performance and Quality Assurance, Mike Ndukwe, attributed increasing data consumption largely to the migration from older network technologies to 4G and 5G, alongside the rapid growth of smartphones, social media and high-definition video content.
He disclosed that Nigeria consumed about 13.2 million terabytes of data in 2025, while consumption in the first half of the current year had already reached 8.52 million terabytes, representing about 43 per cent year-on-year growth compared with the corresponding period.