MTN Nigeria is committing N1 trillion to network expansion this year. The telecoms giant also unveiled new tools to help customers track how they burn through mobile data.
Complaints about poor service and vanishing data bundles have plagued the company for months. Subscribers say their allowances disappear faster than advertised.
Senior MTN executives gathered journalists, influencers and customers in Lagos on Thursday. The forum, called "Data on Trial," tackled thorny questions about network quality and pricing.
Karl Toriola, MTN's chief executive, led the discussion. He was joined by technical chief Yahaya Ibrahim and customer experience officer Ugonwa Nwoye.
At the heart of the debate: why do data bundles vanish so quickly? MTN announced a fresh response to this persistent grievance.
Before month's end, the company will launch a data tracking portal inside its mobile app. Customers will finally see which applications drain their bundles most.
Nwoye compared the portal to a black box for data. It will expose background activities customers didn't know were running.
Telecom firms across Nigeria face mounting pressure from angry subscribers. People want better transparency paired with improved service quality.
MTN executives argued that modern phones and apps, not the network, drive data consumption. They provided compelling examples to back this up.
Toriola revealed a telling story from inside MTN itself. A senior manager discovered her WhatsApp was automatically backing up 126GB to 156GB every single night.
Another case involved a general manager blaming her router for unusual data drain. She later learned her children were streaming high-definition YouTube videos constantly.
Automatic backups, cloud syncing, software updates and video streaming quietly devour data. Most users don't realize what's happening on their devices.
Faster networks like 4G and 5G have changed everything. Ibrahim explained how this shift affects what users actually consume.
YouTube, Netflix and TikTok optimize for faster speeds automatically. Apps now deliver content in higher resolutions without asking permission first.
A high-definition video uses several times more data than standard quality. Ultra-high-definition 4K content demands even greater bandwidth from the network.
MTN argues the perception of rapid data depletion stems from video apps. Platforms like TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp dominate Nigerian internet traffic.
These services are designed to stream quality content at peak resolution. The result is heavier data consumption in shorter timeframes.
Subscribers questioned executives about more than just data usage during the forum. Service reliability and pricing structures also drew intense scrutiny from the audience.
