MTN Nigeria has clarified that the airtime credits recently sent to customers are part of a quality-of-service compensation programme and have nothing to do with mobile data depletion complaints.
Compensation for Poor Network Quality
The telecom company began crediting eligible subscribers on Sunday, following directives from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC). These regulators require operators to compensate customers for prolonged or repeated service failures.
The credits cover service disruptions recorded between February and April 2026. Subscribers reported receiving different amounts, with screenshots circulating online showing payments ranging from N20 to N1,436.
Subscribers Question Varying Amounts
The varying figures sparked questions about the calculation method and who qualifies. One subscriber who received N20 not only queried the small amount but also raised a separate complaint about repeated data depletion without matching usage.
MTN responded directly to the confusion, saying: "The SMS notification relates to a Quality of Service compensation programme for service disruptions recorded between February and April 2026." The company added that the N20 credit represented the approved compensation applied to that subscriber's line and should not be read as a response to any data or airtime depletion claim.
Eligibility and Calculation
Under the NCC's framework, eligibility is not automatic. Subscribers must be located in Local Government Areas identified as having experienced qualifying service failures during the affected period. The compensation amount is also tied to each customer's spending pattern rather than a flat rate. Credits can be used for calls, SMS and data, and are not set to expire.
This is MTN's second such exercise under the policy. The operator ran a similar compensation round in May 2026, covering poor network quality recorded between November 2025 and January 2026. Airtel has also begun compensating eligible customers for the February-to-April period, while it remains unclear when Globacom and T2mobile, formerly 9mobile, will do the same.
Data Depletion Complaints Persist
Separate from the quality-of-service compensation, data depletion continues to be a significant concern for Nigerian subscribers. Industry data obtained by BusinessDay showed that MTN received more than 12,000 data depletion complaints between January and June 2026, a figure that exceeded the combined 11,184 complaints filed against Airtel, Globacom and T2mobile during the same period.
MTN's airtime credit programme does not address those complaints. The company's compensation scheme is limited to poor network quality and does not resolve outstanding questions around data deductions, usage transparency or related subscriber grievances.
Earlier, Legit.ng reported that the NCC and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) have jointly launched a scheme that gives eligible learners daily free data to access approved educational platforms, effective from October 1, 2026. Under the arrangement, qualifying users receive up to 100 megabytes of free data each day for use exclusively on designated educational sites. Over time, that adds up to roughly 700MB weekly, about 3GB monthly and as much as 36.5GB over a full year per learner.
