MTN Reveals What’s Draining Nigerians’ Internet Bundles

MTN Nigeria’s General Manager of Network Performance, Mike Ndukwe, made the clarification at a forum titled Data on Trial, held in Abuja on Monday on the sidelines of the 32nd Nigerian Economic Summit.

“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 him, a 15-second TikTok video could consume between two and 20 megabytes, depending on its quality and other factors.

He added that watching videos in high definition generally consumes more data than viewing the same content at standard definition.

WhatsApp users may also experience unexpected data depletion when their applications automatically download videos, photographs and other media shared in chats and groups.

Although ordinary text messages typically consume relatively little data, frequent viewing of status updates and automatic media downloads can increase consumption significantly.

“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 explained.

He also disclosed that WhatsApp had approximately 45 million users in Nigeria, while TikTok remained among the platforms generating substantial data traffic.

Ndukwe further cited figures indicating that data consumption had increased by approximately 43 per cent year-on-year.

Among the recommendations were reducing video quality on streaming platforms, switching off automatic media downloads and activating data-saving features.

These adjustments could help users identify applications responsible for unusually high consumption and make their subscriptions last longer.

MTN Nigeria’s General Manager of IT Operations, David Ogunsola, also addressed concerns about differences between the data consumption figures displayed on smartphones and those recorded by telecommunications networks.

According to him, the differences may result from variations in measurement methods, background internet 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 such differences could range from two per cent to approximately 12 per cent in certain circumstances.

Ogunsola also clarified that network technology, including 3G and 4G, primarily affects the speed at which users access online services rather than directly determining how much data a particular activity consumes.

He noted that video quality and application settings play important roles in determining the volume of data used.

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