The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, has urged Nigerians to optimise their mobile phone settings to manage data consumption and prevent unnecessary depletion of their data bundles.
Toriola made the call at the “Data on Trial” experience organised by MTN Nigeria on Monday in Abuja to address public concerns about data consumption and pricing.
He said data pricing was influenced by operational costs, including electricity, transportation and infrastructure needed to maintain telecommunications sites. He disclosed that MTN spent about ₦4.05 trillion on power in the preceding year, noting that electricity costs in Nigeria were higher than in the UK.
Toriola added that Nigerian operators used technologies similar to those deployed in Europe and the United States, including 4G and 5G networks.
The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Communications, Peter Akpatason, said the initiative would improve public understanding of data management and address misconceptions about data prices. He acknowledged investments in the telecommunications sector but called for more investment to improve service quality.
The General Manager of Network Performance and Quality Assurance at MTN Nigeria, Mike Ndukwe, identified video streaming, social media use, automatic downloads and background activities as major causes of rapid data consumption.
He said a 15-second TikTok video could consume between 2MB and 20MB, depending on its resolution, adding that high-definition videos generally used more data. He also noted that 4G and 5G networks could increase consumption when applications automatically selected higher video quality.
Ndukwe advised subscribers to disable automatic media downloads on WhatsApp, restrict background data usage, reduce video resolution, disable automatic playback and download large files only when connected to Wi-Fi.
He said customers could monitor their usage and receive alerts through the MyMTN app. He added that MTN also offered MTN FiberX as an unlimited data option for customers with high data needs, subject to applicable terms.
Ndukwe maintained that data depletion generally resulted from users’ online activities and phone settings, urging subscribers to understand how their devices and applications consumed data.
