Nigerians have often accused mobile network companies of making their purchase data disappear in a blink, but MTN Nigeria has explained what really happens when subscribers log to their social media platforms.
According to Mike Ndukwe who is MTN Nigeria general manager network performance, the rapid depletion of subscribers’ internet data bundles is due to high-resolution video streaming, automatic downloads, background applications, cloud backups and increased internet activity, some of which subscribers are not aware of.
“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,” said Mr. Ndukwe who was speaking at forum tagged “Data on Trial,” held in Abuja on Monday.
He added that applications such as TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp consume varying amounts of data depending on video resolution, automatic playback and the frequency of downloads.
According to him, a 15-second TikTok video could consume between two and 20 megabytes, depending on its quality, while high-definition streaming requires substantially more data than standard-definition viewing.
He said WhatsApp messages generally consume minimal data, but status updates, videos, group messages and automatic media downloads could exhaust subscriptions faster than users anticipated.
“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 noted.
He disclosed that WhatsApp had approximately 45 million users in Nigeria, while TikTok ranked among the platforms generating substantial data traffic.
He advised subscribers to disable automatic downloads, reduce streaming resolution, activate data-saving features and monitor consumption through the MyMTN application.
MTN subscribers getting information.