It was one of the most profitable and least talked about revenue lines in Nigerian telecoms. Now, it is gone. Nigerian telecom operators are losing direct control of a lucrative revenue stream estimated at over ₦400 billion annually, as the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) restructures the fast-growing airtime and data lending market by approving five independent firms to take over the service.

The five approved lenders are Total Tim Nigeria Limited, Rane Interactive Medien CLS Limited, Mode NG Applications Limited, Cloud Interactive Associate Limited, and Coverage Broadband Limited. Under the new framework, MTN, Airtel, Globacom, and 9mobile, now rebranded as T2, will no longer run "borrow now, pay later" services directly, ending their dominance over one of Nigeria's most widely used forms of microcredit.

The financial stakes are enormous. MTN Nigeria's Xtratime alone generated ₦131.62 billion in the first nine months of 2025, accounting for the bulk of its fintech revenue, while Airtel Nigeria reported $113 million, roughly ₦156 billion in other mobile services revenue over nine months, much of it linked to similar credit products. MTN alone disbursed over ₦5.6 trillion in airtime and data loans between 2019 and 2023, while the industry issued 46 billion advances worth ₦1.4 trillion in 2023.

The FCCPC's intervention is rooted in compliance failures, not a sudden policy whim. The Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional (DEON) Consumer Lending Regulations 2025 officially took effect on July 21, 2025, with operators given an initial 90-day compliance window, later extended to January 5, 2026, yet the required adjustments were still not completed within the stipulated period. Regulators also found something more damning: the FCCPC's findings indicated that some operators engaged in exclusionary third-party technical arrangements in clear disobedience to the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Act, 2018, arrangements designed to lock out local and competing participants from the market.

Telcos have not taken the reordering quietly. The Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPA) secured an interim injunction from a Lagos Federal High Court on April 14, restraining the FCCPC from enforcing the DEON regulations, with the case adjourned to April 27, 2026. Despite the court order, neither MTN nor Airtel has restored services, citing ongoing compliance processes.

The human cost is already visible. For many low-income users, students, and small traders, borrowing small amounts like ₦100 or ₦500 was often essential for staying connected, especially in emergencies. The popular *303# USSD code that millions relied on is now silent.

Telcos are recast as wholesale suppliers rather than retail lenders; whether the revenue-share arrangements under the new structure prove commercially equivalent to direct lending is a question that will likely define the sector's next 12 to 18 months.

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