The Court of Appeal in Abuja has directed MTN Nigeria Communications Limited to pay N15 million in damages for unlawfully deducting a subscriber’s airtime through unsolicited services. The judgment was delivered on Friday by a three-member panel of justices, who ruled unanimously against the telecommunications company.
The court found that MTN’s actions, including frequent deductions for services the customer never requested, were fraudulent. It also determined that sending unsolicited text messages violated the subscriber’s right to privacy under Section 37 of Nigeria’s 1999 Constitution and breached Regulation 28 of the Consumer Code of Practice Regulations.
The case, identified as CA/ABJ/CV/137/2022, was filed by Mr. Ezugwu Anene, an aggrieved customer. Anene revealed that he had been receiving unwanted text messages titled “Weekly Guidance and Counseling” from 2016 to 2018. He stated that for each of the 244 messages sent during this period, N20 was deducted from his airtime balance without his consent.
Additionally, Anene alleged that MTN forced Caller Tune Services on him, further depleting his airtime. Despite visiting MTN’s Abuja office to protest and activating the Do Not Disturb (DND) code 2442, the deductions continued.
