On Saturday, June 6th, 2026, MTN Nigeria gathered customers from diverse walks of life and across cities at its headquarters in Lagos for an event tagged Data on Trial. It was the telecommunications company’s way of interacting with subscribers, explaining its billing process and answering questions from unsatisfied customers.
Before the event, Nigerians across social strata and on social media have repeatedly expressed their displeasure with the quality of service (QoS) on the MTN network. Some influencers and other notable figures, including Omoyele Sowore, founder of Sahara Reporters, called for a protest against MTN’s activities, with many Nigerians showing solidarity and re-echoing the call.
Mtn is taking advantage of the fact that other networks are way worst than them.
— Divine🎀 (@Divin1111) May 4, 2026
How can 45gb finish in 7days untop bad network.@MTNNG pic.twitter.com/YLWkPC0z4i
The telecom cartel is bleeding Nigerians dry.
— Omoyele Sowore (@sowore) May 4, 2026
The company now known as Most Terrible Network (@MTNNG) sits at the top of this exploitation pyramid, stealing, robbing, and extorting millions of Nigerian subscribers daily.
But they’re not alone.@AirtelNigeria. @GloWorld.… pic.twitter.com/FqCQorWKQd
Although MTN’s Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, Tobe Okigbo, provided some answers, tagging it ‘the realities of operating in a challenging environment’, subscribers weren’t convinced, and the telecoms company had to set up this important event.
MTN’s Response: Data on Trial
MTN decided to respond to its customers’ agitations by calling for a public hearing at which its billing system and processes would be put to cross-examination by selected members of the public, in a courtroom-style session.
On the prosecution side, celebrities and famous faces like Pamilerin Adegoke, Lawyer Timi Agbaje, head of Tech at BusinessDay, Royal Ibeh, amongst others, represented the customers, while selected MTN executives and team leads defended the company.
To serve as an independent assessor was renowned consulting firm KMPG.
KPMG said it had audited MTN’s billing system and cleared the firm of any outrageous charges, stating that MTN’s rates are fair and within industry standards. A representative of MTN corroborated KPMG’s claims, stating that KPMG conducted a billing integrity audit in 2024, adding that it’s an exercise mandated by the regulator and conducted every two years.
Then came the barrage of questions.
On the prosecution side, Hannah Ajibade, a remote worker and brand influencer, mentioned she lost a job because of the poor network quality on MTN, while Royal Ibeh queried the 50% hike in fees that came with a promise of improved network quality within six months, but not much progress has been made in a year. She said MTN keeps blaming vandalism, while telecoms have become a Critical Network Infrastructure.
Victoria Fakiya – Senior Writer
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In his response, MTN’s CTO Yahaya Ibrahim apologised to Hannah for her experience. He cited environmental issues affecting service quality, noting the network’s architecture and how vandalism at one site can affect many others. According to him, MTN measures its QoS daily, spent N900b spent in 2025 and has invested over N1trillion in 2026 already.
A few days ago, the network was extremely poor, and even one of our virtual events was affected. MTN explained that the network outage was because a young man set fire to a manhole, which affected the network in Lagos
In his remarks, MTN CEO Karl Toriola stated that even among MTN staff, some don’t understand how data disappears. According to him, one member of staff had 156GB of file on her WhatsApp, which was backed up daily, yet she was complaining that her data drained quickly. He also mentioned another MTN employee who had YouTube streaming 24/7 in her children’s room—complaining of rapid data depletion.
On poor network quality, Karl Toriola toed the line of his CTO, blaming the challenges in the environment MTN operates in. He also explained that unlimited mobile data doesn’t really exist, and that there has to be a Fair Usage Policy. However, some Nigerians, including Sowore, have disagreed with the claims.
“We cannot operate outside the challenges of the country,” he said.
He maintained that Nigerians enjoy a global standard of network service in the country, insisting that the tariff hike was necessary when it was implemented.
“Tariff increase was implemented for the network to survive and without that tariff increase, they would have shut down.”
Toriola claims the company invests more than the profit it makes, insisting that the bundle price in Nigeria, compared to other African nations except Ghana, is among the cheapest in the world.
Did MTN pass the test?
At the end of the event, Techpoint Africa spoke to some participants, asking whether MTN provided satisfactory answers to the questions. One respondent commended the telecoms company for its sincerity and boldness in convening such a meeting, though he left the impression that MTN was being political in answering some questions; overall, he was happy to understand how data is billed and how bigger screens and better devices consume more data.
Another participant, a consumer advocate podcaster, said she sees the initiative as a step in the right direction and urged other network providers and service industries to follow MTN’s lead.
Outside the MTN building, some participants who followed online weren’t too pleased with the proceedings. They claim MTN gathered influencers (Nigerians have a huge distrust for some of them) to ask ‘weak’ questions, and MTN responded by gaslighting them.
It’s understandable from an average Nigerian’s point of view when they see influencers associating with a brand. The immediate consensus is that they were paid. Maybe the telecoms company can rethink this approach and pick every day Nigerian —market women, undergraduates, artisans to be on the prosecutor side when there’s another opportunity. However, MTN’s strategy makes sense: these influencers have large followings and can easily share the knowledge gained from sessions like these with their followers.
In the end, MTN Nigeria explained that, just as driving a better car with higher engine performance consumes more fuel, so is data consumption when using 4G/5G-enabled devices, including smart TVs with higher pixel counts.
The company also has to battle vandalism and environmental issues that Nigerians have refused to understand. Imagine suffering 25 fibre cuts daily and having to pay exorbitant fees for spectrum, right of way, and other expenditures that run in billions for diesel to power base stations, provide security, settle disgruntled landlords, and many more.
Nigerians may say these don’t matter, and that they’re only interested in the quality of service on the network, not how it is achieved. Karl Toriola has said it is impossible to guarantee service quality because of numerous factors beyond its control, but both the operator and the subscribers might need to find a middle ground — transparency and continuous engagement like this, and a resolve to tackle theft and vandalism of network equipment.
