Data usage on the MTN Ghana network has gone up by between 15 and 20 percent in recent times following the recent ban on public gatherings and the closure of schools because of the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“Every day there is a change and it depends on what is happening. Somewhere between 15 to 20 percent will be a fair estimate of the increase we are seeing so far across the board,” the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Selorm Adadevoh revealed on the Citi Breakfast Show.
He noted that most of the traffic increase can be attributed to social media and video streaming sites.
There are also a lot of workers operating remotely who are relying on data services as their organisations move to ensure social distancing amidst the novel coronavirus pandemic.
“The biggest change we have seen are from students who have now all moved home and are working remotely…you’ve seen Facebook traffic increase significantly and Netflix as well. These are some of the very high volumes we’ve seen. You will see Youtube increase as well and of course educational sites,” Mr. Adadevoh explained.
Despite the gains being made on data traffic, the MTN CEO said reducing tastes was not advisable.
He explained that reducing costs could increase traffic and affect internet speed.
“Once you lower prices, invariably the 150 percent growth in capacity will become 300 percent growth in capacity. If we can’t even accommodate 150 percent increase in traffic; then creating a situation where we have to accommodate 300 percent increase in traffic will be a challenge.”
