TELCOs (Airtel & Glo) Resumes Airtime Borrowing To Customers

Following a six-week airtime lending outage that cut off millions of customers from essential communication lifelines, which follows weeks of disruption that left millions of Nigerians without emergency call credit from the TELCOs, Globacom and Airtel Nigeria have resumed their airtime borrowing services to the general customers at large in Nigeria. Yesterday, to be precise, May 25, 2026, Airtel Advance and Glo’s “Borrow Me Credit” reopened, a few days after the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) had declared it would temporarily stop the implementation of its contentious regulations around digital lending. 

The ruling came after the Federal High Court in Lagos issued an interim order on April 15 that prevented the FCCPC from executing the regulations following a case brought by the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN). However, at the time of reporting, it was still unclear whether MTN’s XtraTime service had been entirely restored or not.

A regulatory tug-of-war between two government agencies is what is currently taking place. While telecom companies and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) contend that airtime credit is a telecom value-added service rather than a conventional loan product, the FCCPC maintains that airtime borrowing should be covered under its digital lending regulations. 

The chairman of WASPAN, Ayo Stuffman, had maintained that the lending regulations, which had targeted abusive loan apps rather than telecom providers, were never intended for airtime advances in the first place. Aminu Maida, the executive vice chairman of the NCC, also officially supported that stance. However, the FCCPC is not silently retreating. The commission made it plain in its notification dated May 22 that it intends to contest the court order and carry on the battle for jurisdiction over the industry. 

Airtime borrowing is significantly more significant in Nigeria than it may seem on paper, the stoppage had significant effects. Small airtime advances are used by millions of low-income Nigerians to stay connected or make important calls when their money runs out before payday. The market is thought to handle hundreds of billions of naira annually, according to industry estimates. 

The TELCOs decided to stop services rather than take the chance when the FCCPC regulations raised questions about compliance and potential fines, which might reach ₦100 million or 1% of yearly revenue. Users of MTN, Airtel, and Glo were abruptly cut off from services that many had grown accustomed to using on a regular basis for six weeks.

The FCCPC’s introduction of its Digital, Electronic, Online, or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations, or DEON laws, in July 2025 marked the beginning of the crisis. This follows years of complaints about harassment, debt shaming, and privacy violations, the measures were designed to clean up Nigeria’s infamously hostile lending app market. Initially, operators had ninety days to comply; after that, they were offered extensions until January and then April of 2026. 

When WASPAN filed a lawsuit against the FCCPC in Lagos in April, things quickly got out of hand. On April 15, the court issued an injunction. Ironically, even though the court injunction halted enforcement, MTN suspended XtraTime within a day. Further legal confusion resulted from a second Abuja court ruling that MTN’s suspension constituted illegal interference with another operator’s license.

Users of Glo and Airtel can borrow airtime once more for the time being, but the larger battle is far from over. Telecom companies are pressing for a clearer understanding between the FCCPC and NCC over who actually regulates airtime credit products, while the FCCPC still wants the courts to reverse the order. 

Every time a telecom service crosses over with financial products, the sector runs the risk of repeating the same cycle: regulators conflict, courts step in, services disappear, and millions of customers are caught in the middle. The fact that MTN’s comeback was delayed serves as a warning that the market hasn’t completely stabilised. 

Airtel and Glo have fully restored their airtime borrowing services. Airtel customers can now dial *303# for emergency credit advances, while Glo users can access loans via *301# or *321#. However, MTN’s service remains offline for now, but industry groups like WASPAN expect it to resume anytime soon following recent legal developments.