Rapidly depleting data and bill shock are due to increased usage of social media and streaming platforms on mobile devices, as well as faster network speeds due to 4G rollout and customer upgrades from feature phones to smartphones.
This according to MTN which says it has embarked on an "education drive" to empower its customers to make informed decisions on data usage and "educate them on cost effective ways of using data in order to minimise bill shock and manage their data bundles".
"Data is the gateway into the rich digital world, however due to lack of insight customers have unwittingly experienced bill shock and their experience spoiled by inexplicable or rapidly depleting data," the mobile operator said in a statement today.
In the past MTN has come under fire from customers who complained about "disappearing data" on the network.
"The expansive rollout of 4G or LTE networks has enriched network experience as it resulted in higher upload and download speeds," according to MTN.
The telco says faster networks means that LTE compatible devices utilise a lot of data when they access applications as faster speeds lend themselves to more data consumption.
"As a result, time spent on a 4G network using an LTE compatible device will consume considerably more data bundles than previously on the 3G networks using a 3G device."
The telco adds that access to popular social media platforms, streaming and software updates account for the bulk of consumers' data consumption. The transition from a feature phone to a smartphone is also to blame as "many of the smartphones that are available in the market comes with a default setting that allows for automatic software updates without the user's interference".
"Consumers are urged to manually deactivate updates in the cellular data settings if they wish to save their data bundles and update more cost effectively using Wi-Fi," the statement reads.
The telco also points out that not all devices are created equal and says independent tests have found that devices running on certain operating systems consume more data than other devices for the same usage patterns.
"Consumers are unaware that on average they consume approximately 4.6GB and 1.4GB of data over a four-day period when they logged on Instagram and Facebook on the 2G and 3G network," MTN claims.
According to the findings of these tests, the depletion rate was as high as 10% between different devices in certain instances.
MTN also warns that instant messaging platforms can also be costly and "many users are unaware that sending videos and pictures consumes data bundles, and this can escalate to up to 16MB per message".
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