To further clear the air on why I called MTN out on my Socials, for the evident discrepancies and fraudulent activity in their Mobile Data services. All those who you saw my earlier social media Post on that can attest to the fact that, that has become a common practice for most Telecom Brands in Nigeria. However, MTN tops the list of the worst in such ‘criminality’.
This is let us know, I never did it out of spite. I did it for fairness and justice for all Nigerians. I did that post because I have consistently noticed that once any unfavorable policy is introduced by the government to the ‘Naija’ people, whether it affects Telcom sector or not, this particular Telcom/ISP brand won’t wait a day before it hikes the prices of mobile Data or cut down the volume of Data for old prices. And once the other brands notice this, they follow suit.
Thereby, putting their subscribers’ in a sticky situation of, ‘it’s either you buy or opt for another Internet Service Provider (ISP) we don’t bloody care’. And the funniest part is, other Internet Service Providers may not be any better.
No doubt, MTN as a brand, has remained consistent over the years, making it to be amongst the most efficient Telcoms Brand in Africa. However, that shouldn’t be the licence to keep exploiting the struggling masses- larger percentage of whom seem to rely on instant messages and online services to get by on a daily basis in a fast changing digitalised world.
Now, a recent statistics by some group of Nigerian researchers has shown that only 2 percent mobile data subscribers truly enjoy the value for their money.
With that being said, I think most Telcoms in Nigeria need to develop an improved pricing transparency mechanism in dealing with their esteemed subscribers.
I have been an advocate for affordable internet for all working alongside other coalition in collaboration with Alliance for Affordable Internet For All (A4AI), (whose work is now being carried forward by the Global Digital Inclusion Partnership (GDIP)
As a working coalition, pricing transparency has been a critical subject matter being discussed severally at different Internet Governance fora. This is because, there seem to be little or no transparency at all in how these Telcoms measure the amount of broadband/Internet usage per second particularly for the mobile data subscribers to enjoy value for the money they cough out in purchasing these data, either daily or monthly. Hence the Telcoms take undue advantage of that ‘small gap’ to rip tons of Nigerians off on a daily basis.
We are all aware that internet is no different from the oxygen we breathe. And as human beings no amount of oxygen can ever be too much for us to inhale per second and even per minute. That’s exactly how it works with most of our Smart Phones be it IOS and Android. They eat, drink and survive on Internet data to get by as well as to deliver on their essence.
In conclusion, have we ever imagined how useless most of our expensive smart phones and even we, the owners would be throughout a day, without internet data? That’s exactly how important broadband data is to everyone in this digital age.
Therefore, most Telcoms need to understand this and ensure there is efficiency, fairness and reliable customer care relations with their esteemed subscribers across the country, at all times. With that, both the service providers and their subscribers will never feel cheated.