By Nadia Ntiamoah
Leading telecommunications provider MTN Ghana has confirmed a nationwide disruption to its data bundle purchase services following a major technical hitch during the rollout of a new data volue offer.
The disruption, which began on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, left many customers unable to purchase data bundles—a core service in today’s hyper-connected digital environment.
In an official statement issued by MTN’s Corporate Communications Department, the company disclosed that the malfunction occurred while implementing a new promotional offer that was supposed to provide a 15% bonus on all data bundle purchases starting from the same day.
“Whilst implementing the data offer, which will provide 15% additional volume of data from today, 1st July 2025, MTN experienced a major technical issue which has affected data bundle purchases,” the statement read. “As a result, customers are temporarily unable to purchase data bundles.”
The company expressed deep regret for the inconvenience, assuring users that its technical team was working “with urgency” to restore the service. No timeline has yet been provided for when the issue will be fully resolved, but MTN has promised regular updates.
Customer Frustration
The disruption immediately sparked widespread frustration among customers who rely heavily on MTN’s data services for work, education, communication, and entertainment.
Social media platforms have been awash with complaints from affected users, many of whom criticized the timing of the failure, given it coincided with the start of a new month and a highly anticipated bonus rollout.
Political Reaction
The technical hiccup also drew attention from political quarters.
The opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP),members on social media seizing on the wave of public anger, criticized not just the service outage but also questioned the logic behind MTN’s pricing structure.
The Minister for Communications, also Ningo-Prampram MP, Sam George, known for his active commentary on digital policy, was cited by the NPP in a strongly worded message:
“What sense does it make for GHS350 to give one 106.81GB when GHS399 gives 214.53GB of data? Just because of GHS49, about half of the data given to those who pay GHS399 is denied those who pay GHS350.”
The critique raised eyebrows across the telecom industry and among consumer protection advocates, who have in the past accused telcos of opaque pricing models and inconsistent value-for-money propositions.
Broader Implications
This latest disruption puts renewed pressure on MTN, which holds the largest market share in Ghana’s telecommunications sector.
The company’s previous data pricing policies and service stability have often come under scrutiny by consumer groups and regulatory bodies.
In 2020, MTN was declared a significant market power (SMP) by the National Communications Authority (NCA), a move that allowed regulators to impose special rules to promote fairer competition.
Since then, MTN has made multiple efforts to rebuild public confidence through improved packages and service reliability.
However, the July 1 incident has temporarily eroded some of those gains, especially as it came with no prior warning and directly affected customers’ ability to stay connected during a working day.
