Airtime lending services in Nigeria are on track for a full comeback, with the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) expressing confidence that 40 million subscribers will soon regain access to these services.

The renewed optimism follows Airtel Nigeria’s decision to restore its airtime credit service and the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s (FCCPC) suspension of the controversial DEON Regulations 2025.

For weeks, millions of prepaid and low-income users were cut off from small airtime and data advances, a lifeline for daily communication and economic activity.

ALTON Chairman Gbenga Adebayo stated that the regulatory landscape is now sufficiently clear for operators to resume operations.

“The regulatory environment is now clear, and we are confident that full restoration is imminent.

“The courts have spoken, the FCCPC has acted responsibly, and two of the four major operators have already restored services,” Adebayo stated.

The disruption began In April after the FCCPC classified airtime credit as a consumer lending product under its Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations 2025.

The move prompted MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Globacom and T2mobile to suspend services. Nigeria’s airtime credit market is estimated at N300 billion to N400 billion annually.

Adebayo argued the suspension showed airtime credit is a critical economic infrastructure, not a typical financial product.

“It is economic infrastructure that approximately 40 million people use regularly, with the vast majority of them at the base of the economy,” he said.

The FCCPC has since suspended enforcement of the DEON Regulations after a Federal High Court in Lagos issued an ex parte order restraining the Commission.

FCCPC’s Director of Corporate Affairs, Ondaje Ijagwu, confirmed: “As a law-abiding institution, the Commission, in deference and in obedience to the rule of law, hereby suspends the implementation and the enforcement of the DEON Regulations 2025.”

“With Airtel and Globacom already back online, attention has shifted to MTN Nigeria, which serves over 95 million subscribers,” said MTN’s Chief Corporate Services and Sustainability Officer, Tobechukwu Okigbo, who added that the operator needs further legal clarity.

“We would require either a court ruling that sets aside the regulations empowering the FCCPC to license, which has not happened, or a clear directive instructing us to reinstate the service,” Okigbo explained.

ALTON urged stronger coordination between the FCCPC and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to avoid future regulatory clashes.

“The FCCPC’s consumer protection mandate and the NCC’s telecom regulatory mandate can coexist without either displacing the other,” Adebayo added. (Nigerian Tribune)

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