Two of Nigeria’s biggest regulators are in a fight over the airtime credit dispute, and the casualty is a market worth up to ₦400 billion that millions of low-income Nigerians depend on daily.
MTN Nigeria pulled Xtratime, its airtime and data credit advance service, after the FCCPC’s 2025 consumer lending regulations triggered a compliance standoff. The users who rely on airtime credit to stay connected when cash runs short are now cut off.
A ₦400 Billion Market Caught in No Man’s Land
The airtime credit market runs between ₦300 billion and ₦400 billion a year. ALTON chairman Gbenga Adebayo put that number on the table on Tuesday, April 28, and said the people behind it cannot get loans anywhere else.
“These are not abstract figures,” Adebayo said. “Behind every naira in that market is a Nigerian who cannot go to a bank and get a loan. Airtime credit is how they bridge the gap. When the service goes dark, they feel it immediately.”
The fight has roots in August 2025, when ALTON flagged to the NCC that FCCPC regulations appeared to cut across an existing agreement between both agencies. Neither moved to fix it.
By January 2026, the FCCPC had set a compliance deadline of January 5. By April, federal courts had stepped in.
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Two Regulators, One Market, Zero Clarity
Courts in Lagos and Abuja have both moved. Interim injunctions now shield licensed VAS providers, among them Nairtime Nigeria Limited and WASPA members. Those court orders are active. Yet Xtratime remains suspended.
Adebayo did not mince words: active court orders, valid licences, and users still locked out. That is the contradiction he put on record.
“Court orders have been issued, businesses hold valid licences, and consumers are still being affected,” he said. “We believe all parties have a responsibility to bring this to an orderly resolution.”
ALTON’s position is clear: the NCC holds statutory authority over licensed telecom operators under the Nigerian Communications Act. The FCCPC, operating under the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act of 2018, issued lending regulations in September 2025 that extended its reach into airtime credit territory, ALTON says, which belongs to the NCC.
The FCCPC has clarified that it did not ban airtime borrowing or data advance services outright. A Lagos court partially restrained the enforcement of its regulations on April 15. The market has not recovered. Operators are caught between conflicting signals from two agencies, and users are the collateral damage.
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Investors Are Watching and Drawing Conclusions
The damage does not stop at frozen services. Adebayo warned that unresolved regulatory overlap will deter the long-term capital Nigeria needs to build digital infrastructure.
“Investors take their cues from how disputes are managed, not just how they begin,” he said. “A market where regulatory jurisdiction is unclear and where resolving that uncertainty causes disruption will struggle to attract the kind of long-term investment Nigeria needs.”
When regulators cannot agree, and courts have to intervene, the signal to investors is clear: rules here can shift without warning. That signal reaches foreign capital before any official statement does.
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ALTON wants both agencies in a room. The ask is a coordinated resolution that respects the court orders already in place. The association has pledged to engage constructively with both regulators and the federal government.
This is solvable. Two regulators need to agree on jurisdiction and restore a market that was working before this dispute started.
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