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 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.
