By Ado Oyeyemi
MTN Nigeria has attributed the rapid depletion of internet data bundles among subscribers to high definition video streaming, automatic downloads, background applications and cloud backups, insisting that the company does not deliberately deduct customers’ data.
The telecommunications firm said many smartphone users unknowingly consume large amounts of data through applications and device settings that continue running even when they are not actively using their phones to browse the internet.
MTN Nigeria’s General Manager of Network Performance, Mike Ndukwe, disclosed this on Monday at a forum tagged “Data on Trial,” held in Abuja on the sidelines of the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit.
Ndukwe said data consumption largely depended on subscribers’ online activities, smartphone configurations and the quality of content they streamed.
“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.
He explained that social media platforms, including TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp, could consume substantial amounts of data depending on video resolution, automatic playback and media downloads.
According to him, watching a 15-second TikTok video could consume between two and 20 megabytes, depending on its quality, while high-definition videos require significantly more data than standard-definition content.
He noted that although ordinary WhatsApp text messages consume relatively little data, frequent video sharing, status updates, group conversations and automatic media downloads could rapidly exhaust subscribers’ bundles.
Ndukwe urged users to review their application settings, particularly WhatsApp’s automatic download feature, which allows photos and videos to download without users manually initiating the process.
“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,” he said.
He disclosed that WhatsApp had approximately 45 million users in Nigeria, while TikTok was among the platforms generating substantial data traffic.
Ndukwe added that data consumption had increased by about 43 per cent year-on-year, underscoring the growing demand for internet services.
He advised subscribers to disable automatic downloads, reduce video streaming quality, activate data-saving features and monitor their usage through the MyMTN application.
Also speaking at the event, MTN Nigeria’s General Manager of IT Operations, David Ogunsola, said discrepancies between data consumption figures displayed on smartphones and those recorded by telecommunications networks could result from differences in measurement methods, background traffic and the timing of data sessions.
“The data that you measure on your devices is slightly different from what traverses over the network and what’s on the charge,” Ogunsola said.
He explained that variations in measurement and rounding could account for differences ranging from two per cent to about 12 per cent in some circumstances.
Ogunsola clarified that network technology primarily affected connection speed rather than the amount of data consumed, which depended largely on the activities users performed online.
“The network type that you are on, whether it’s 3G or 4G, just like Mike also explained earlier, would determine not how much data you use, but how fast you’re able to do what it is that you want to do,” he said.
MTN Nigeria’s Chief Executive Officer, Karl Toriola, meanwhile, defended the cost of providing telecommunications services, citing the high expenses associated with electricity, transportation and maintaining network infrastructure across the country.
Toriola said Nigerian telecommunications operators faced significant operational challenges because they were responsible for supplying power and providing transportation to their network sites.
“Please understand that this country, as well as a few other African countries, we are providing power and transportation to all of our sites,” he said.
He maintained that Nigerian operators deployed equipment comparable to those used in Europe and the United States but faced higher operating costs, particularly in providing electricity to their facilities.
Toriola added that MTN was stepping up consumer education to help subscribers understand how their devices and applications affected internet data consumption.
The Northwest Sales Manager of Xiaomi Nigeria, Kevin Kojode, also identified automatic software updates, cloud synchronisation, background applications and unrestricted mobile hotspot connections as factors responsible for unexpected data depletion.
“Today, users don’t just go online, they stay online,” Kojode said.
Using a one-gigabyte data bundle as an example, he explained that background updates, cloud backups and operating system activities could consume data without users consciously initiating downloads.
Kojode advised smartphone users to restrict automatic updates to Wi-Fi connections, set data usage limits, monitor devices connected to their mobile hotspots and lower video streaming quality to conserve their subscriptions.
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He added that understanding smartphone settings and taking advantage of available data-monitoring features could help subscribers manage their internet usage more effectively.
