Court Orders Telecom Giants, MTN, Airtel To Restore ‘Airtime Credit’ Services To Nigerians Nigeriandiaspora activities

The court specifically barred the commission from imposing sanctions, issuing further directives, or taking actions that could hinder service providers from operating within the existing telecom framework.

Millions of Nigerian telecom subscribers may soon regain access to airtime and data credit services after two Federal High Court rulings dismantled the regulatory basis that led to their abrupt suspension earlier in April.

The affected services, including MTN Nigeria’s XtraTime and Airtel’s data credit offerings, were halted mid-April following compliance concerns tied to new digital lending regulations introduced by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC).

The disruption left millions of prepaid users stranded without access to emergency airtime borrowing — an essential stopgap widely used by low-income earners, traders, and small business operators.

In a decisive intervention, the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, presided over by Justice A. Lewis-Allagoa, on April 15 granted an interim injunction restraining the FCCPC from enforcing critical provisions of its Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations 2025 against members of the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN).

Days later, the Federal High Court in Abuja issued a separate but more direct order in a suit involving Nairtime Holdings Limited and Nairtime Nigeria Limited.

The court restrained MTN Nigeria and Airtel Networks Limited from suspending or restricting the companies’ access to telecom infrastructure — including short codes, USSD channels, SMS systems, and billing platforms — on the basis of the FCCPC regulations.

The Abuja court further ruled that telecom operators could not disregard contractual notice periods or dispute resolution procedures in a bid to comply with newly introduced regulatory directives.

The twin rulings have effectively undermined the legal justification cited by telecom operators for suspending airtime and data credit services, raising expectations that services could be restored imminently.

At the centre of the dispute is a lingering jurisdictional clash between regulators.

The FCCPC had, in July 2025, extended its oversight to include digital lending services— bringing airtime and data credit products under a licensing regime originally designed to tackle exploitative loan applications.

However, industry stakeholders, including WASPAN, argue that such services fall squarely under the regulatory authority of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), as they are delivered via telecom infrastructure governed by the Nigerian Communications Act of 2003. Nigeriandiaspora activities

Faced with regulatory uncertainty and potential sanctions, MTN and Airtel opted to suspend the services pending clarity—a move that triggered widespread backlash.

While the FCCPC has insisted it did not order the suspension and described the shutdown as a business decision by the telecom operators, industry players have pushed back, accusing the commission of regulatory overreach.

WASPAN has since urged the FCCPC to comply fully with the court orders, halt public commentary that could prejudice ongoing proceedings, and engage in urgent consultations with the NCC and other stakeholders.

Industry analysts estimate that airtime lending transactions in Nigeria are worth between N500 billion and N1.2 trillion annually, underscoring their role as a critical layer of informal microcredit supporting economic activity, particularly within the informal sector.

Both cases have been adjourned for interlocutory hearings, but attention has now shifted to the telecom operators and how quickly they will act to restore services that millions of Nigerians have been cut off from for nearly two weeks. Nigeriandiaspora