Telecom services provider, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, has apologised to its customers for the service breakdown they experienced on the network on Valentine’s Day.
The disruption prevented many customers of the company from making and receiving calls, even as data usage was also impossible for several hours.
The apology: MTN, which is the largest mobile operator in Nigeria by subscriber number, admitted that it failed the subscribers and disrupted their plans for the special day as a result of the network issue which prevented users from communicating with their loved ones. The company, however, said the issue with its network has been resolved and services restored.
Part of the apology issued by the telco on Tuesday night said:
- “Today, of all days, you couldn’t count on us to keep you seamlessly connected with the people, places, businesses, and things that matter to you. Words cannot express how sorry we are sorry for the disruption we caused. The issue has been resolved and services restored. You matter to us and we will never stop showing you how much.”
Many MTN subscribers had decried the service outage on the network as they were completely cut off from communicating while the service breakdown lasted. The outage started around Tuesday afternoon and lasted until the evening before it was resolved.
Technical issue: Earlier in the day the telecoms company in a message posted on Twitter said it was facing a technical issue and promised to fix the problem soon.
- “Dear customers due to an unexpected technical issue, some customers have difficulty using our services this time. Work is ongoing to resolve this issue as quickly as possible. We regret all inconveniences this may cause,” MTN wrote.
What you should know: Data from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) shows that as of December 2022, MTN had total of 89 million active subscriptions on its network, making it the largest telecom operator in Nigeria.
With this large customer size, it was not surprising that the wide-scale service disruption affected many people across the country. And the fact that the disruption happened on an important day as the Valentine’s Day was particularly damaging.
Call for compensations: To this end, some MTN customers felt like the company needed to do more than just apologise. Specifically, they have called for compensations. One customer on Twitter said:
- “You guys ruined my valentine. Apology not accepted. I think we as customers deserve a proper compensation for the damages caused by you guys on valentine of all days.”
You guys ruined my valentine apology not accepted I think we as customers deserve a proper compensation for the damages caused by you guys on valentine of all days.
— hima🫵🏾💰 (@_obi_emmanuel) February 14, 2023
Another customer, Benjamin Bemgba Elijah, said the service disruption almost cost his company some important opportunities. He said:
- “You guys need to compensate us ASAP… My office uses MTN for her internet services. We nearly missed out on important emails if not for a few colleagues who had personal alternative networks. So, person no fit get only MTN line like this? U must have an alternative data Network.”
You guys need to compensate us ASAP… My office uses MTN for her internet services. We nearly missed out on important emails if not for a few colleagues who had personal alternative networks.
So, person no fit get only MTN line like this? U must have an alternative data Network.— Benjamin Bemgba Elijah (@benkomreid) February 15, 2023
Unfortunately, some subscribers weren’t as lucky as Elijah, as the service disruption had caused some actual damage to them. One person said:
- “I am really serious about this, you guys made me lose a contract because of time, moreover I am owed some date I purchased 3 times and got debited for it. I asked a question earlier; When last were you sued?, it will be like film in your eyes.”
I am really serious about this, you guys made me lose a contract because of time, moreover I am owed some date I purchased 3 times and got debited for it. I asked a question earlier; When last were you sued?, it will be like film in your eyes.
— Refuge Aniekwe (@itz_refuge) February 14, 2023