MTN To Pay Customer N15m For Unlawful Airtime Deductions

The Court of Appeal in Abuja has ordered MTN Nigeria Communications Limited to pay N15 million in damages following the unlawful deduction of a subscriber’s airtime through unsolicited services.

In a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel, the court described the regular deductions made by MTN for auto-renewal of services not subscribed to as fraudulent.

The court further held that the sending of unsolicited text messages by MTN violated the privacy rights of subscribers as guaranteed under Section 37 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria.

Additionally, the company’s actions were found to breach Regulation 28 of the Consumer Code of Practice Regulations.

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This ruling followed an appeal (marked: CA/ABJ/CV/137/2022) filed by Mr. Ezugwu Anene, an aggrieved customer.

Anene had claimed that between 2016 and 2018, he received over 244 unsolicited text messages from MTN offering services like Weekly Guidance and Counseling, which he had not subscribed to.

He also alleged that N20 was repeatedly deducted from his airtime balance each time he received the messages on his mobile number, 08030735301.

Despite his protests at MTN’s Abuja office and his attempt to activate the “Do Not Disturb” service using the code 2442, the deductions continued. Anene also claimed that MTN imposed Caller Tune Services on him, resulting in further unauthorized deductions.