MTN is about to reduce data cost
Someone just Dragged MTN Nigeria, Airtel Nigeria, Glo World, MultiChoice DStv to Federal High Court, Demands N50 Billion Over Consumer Rights.
For decades, millions of Nigerians have accepted something simply because they were told that was how it worked:
You pay for data. You don’t finish it. It expires. Your money is gone.
You pay for a television subscription. You are unable to use the service for part of the subscription period. The clock keeps running anyway.
KaaTruths Podcast Ltd and the individual behind the case believe it is time somebody asked a very simple question:
Why?
Today, KaaTruths Podcast Ltd and the individual are challenging these practices before the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The defendants are MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Globacom Limited, Airtel Networks Limited, MultiChoice Nigeria Limited, and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).
This case is not merely about them.
It is about millions of Nigerian consumers who pay for services and are expected to bear virtually all the consequences when those services are unused, unavailable, disrupted or expire.
Here is the contradiction they are asking the Court to examine:
If a consumer buys a 30-day data bundle and consumes all of it in five days, the telecommunications company tells the consumer the data has been exhausted and another bundle must be purchased.
Fair enough.
But if after 30 days the consumer has not consumed everything paid for, the remaining data can expire.
So when consumption favours the service provider, usage determines what the consumer has left.
But when expiration favours the service provider, time suddenly determines what the consumer has left.
How can both principles apply against the consumer?
They are also challenging situations where data expires even when the consumer could not properly use the service because of network disruptions or other service-related problems.
One of the incidents pleaded in this case arose after KaaTruths Podcast Ltd purchased an MTN data subscription for N30,000, billed to last 30 days. The router supplied for accessing the service developed a fault, and despite a request for cancellation, refund or rollover of the unused subscription, the request was refused and the subscription eventually expired.
In another incident pleaded before the Court, 75GB of data billed to last a month was said to have been exhausted in less than seven days, despite intermittent network disruption, and KaaTruths Podcast Ltd says no satisfactory breakdown was provided showing how the 75GB was consumed.
Enough complaining on social media.
They are taking the questions to court.
Among other reliefs, they are asking the Federal High Court to determine whether terms that allow unused data bundles to expire merely because a stipulated period has elapsed are unfair, unreasonable and contrary to consumers’ rights
They are asking the Court to examine whether consumers should lose subscriptions even where the service provider did not make the service usable throughout the period paid for
They are challenging the absence of meaningful cancellation options in these subscription arrangements.
They are asking for similar scrutiny of MultiChoice’s subscription model, including circumstances where viewing packages continue to run despite periods when the service is not being used or is disrupted
And ultimately, they are asking the Court for orders restraining these companies from continuing practices the Court finds unfair and unlawful
They are also claiming N50 BILLION in general and special damages for the violations of consumer rights.
Let it be clear:
This is not a fight against business. It is a fight for fairness in business.
Companies have a right to make profits.
But Nigerian consumers also have rights.
For too long, the response to questionable practices has been to complain on X, Facebook, WhatsApp and in beer parlours.
Consumers co..