MTN data usage rules changed?
MTN appears to have changed the way it deducts data from users’ accounts to always use the oldest loaded bundle first.
Reports about the change came from Shaun Dewberry, who had been criticising MTN throughout 2012 for the way in which it handled data that had been rolled over from a previous month.
Dewberry is known for outing the inaccurate listenership numbers of online radio stations as reported by NetDynamix, and being proven right.
Asked about how MTN deducts data when a subscriber has an allocation that has been rolled over in addition to a recurring monthly data bundle, MTN initially said that the oldest data bundle is used up first.
However, after further questioning and an investigation on MTN’s part, GM of product solutions at MTN SA, Mike Fairon explained how they deduct data:
Mike Fairon, general manager for product, innovation, and development at MTN
- MTN uses separate data “wallets”: recurring and ad-hoc.
- Recurring data allocations are credited every month, but data is valid for 60 days.
- If a subscriber doesn’t use their full monthly data allowance the carry-over will be used first in the following month.
- This is similar for bundles that are loaded on an ad-hoc basis: “the bundle that expires first is depleted first”.
- When you mix the two bundles, however, data from the recurring wallet is used first.
Dewberry confirmed that he has a recurring data bundle that came with his iPhone contract, which he then tops up with ad-hoc bundles as needed.
According to Fairon, the majority of MTN’s customers either buy multiple recurring or multiple adhoc bundles.
MTN was unable to confirm by the time of publication whether changes were made to the order in which it deducts data from rolled-over bundles.
However, Dewberry and others have observed that data now appears to be allocated to a single wallet that expires 60 days from the latest bundle purchase.
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