Why Nigeria’s latest telecom move matters across Africa

Millions of Nigerian mobile subscribers may have regained access to airtime credit services, but a deeper regulatory battle is raising fresh questions about who controls one of Africa's largest digital consumer markets.

Jun 6, 2026 - 14:50

Why Nigeria’s latest telecom move matters across Africa

Shoppers and traders in a congested street market in Lagos, Nigeria, on Monday, July 17, 2023. [Benson Ibeabuchi/Bloomberg via Getty Images]

Millions of Nigerian mobile subscribers may have regained access to airtime credit services, but a deeper regulatory battle is raising fresh questions about who controls one of Africa's largest digital consumer markets.

Nigeria's competition regulator has approved nine airtime and data credit providers despite suspending enforcement of sector-specific rules.
The move follows months of disruption, during which major telecom operators suspended airtime credit services for millions of subscribers.
The dispute centres on whether airtime credit should be regulated as a consumer lending product or a telecommunications service.
Industry stakeholders warn that prolonged regulatory uncertainty could affect investor confidence in Africa's largest telecom market.

Nigeria's Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has approved nine companies to provide airtime and data credit services under its controversial DEON Consumer Lending Regulations 2025, despite suspending enforcement of the framework just weeks ago.

The newly approved firms include Technotrends Platforms Nigeria Limited, Total Tim Nigeria Limited, Fonyou Technologies Nigeria Limited, Rane Interactive Medien CLS Limited, MRS Innovation Nigeria Limited, Mode NG Applications Nigeria Limited, ERL Telecoms Service Limited, Cloud Interactive Associate Limited, and Coverage Broadband Limited.

The approvals come after a turbulent two months that saw major telecom operators suspend airtime credit services for millions of users following an FCCPC directive requiring compliance with the new lending rules.

While Airtel Nigeria and Globacom have since restored the service, MTN Nigeria, the country's largest telecom operator with more than 95 million subscribers, had yet to resume airtime credit offerings as of publication.

The dispute highlights a broader regulatory question confronting policymakers across Africa's rapidly expanding digital economy: whether airtime credit should be treated as a telecommunications product or a financial service.

People transfer the Pokémon Go mobile game amounts to each other on the campus of the University of Lagos on July 14, 2016. [Photo by STEFAN HEUNIS/AFP via Getty Images]

The FCCPC maintains that airtime and data credit constitute consumer lending because customers receive services in advance and repay them through future recharges. Telecommunications operators, however, argue that the product is a value-added telecom service already subject to oversight by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

Industry debate has also focused on the size of the market. Reports attributed to FCCPC sources estimated annual capital outflows linked to airtime credit services at around N3 trillion, equivalent to approximately $2.21 billion using Forbes Advisor's current exchange rate of about N1,360 to $1.

Industry estimates published by BusinessDay, Technext, and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) place the market's annual value between N300 billion and N400 billion, or roughly $221 million to $294 million.

ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, welcomed the suspension of the regulations but cautioned that overlapping regulatory mandates could weaken investor confidence.

Other African markets, including Kenya and Ghana, have adopted frameworks that provide clearer coordination between telecom and financial regulators in overseeing digital financial products.

Analysts say the outcome of Nigeria's regulatory dispute could have implications beyond airtime loans, influencing investor perceptions of policy stability in one of Africa's largest and fastest-growing digital economies.