{"id":121181,"date":"2026-05-26T17:33:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T17:33:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=121181"},"modified":"2026-05-26T17:33:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T17:33:21","slug":"airtel-glo-restore-airtime-lending-after-court-order-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=121181","title":{"rendered":"Airtel, Glo Restore Airtime Lending After Court Order"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 36 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https:\/\/www.newsghana.com.gh\/airtel-glo-restore-airtime-lending-after-court-order\/Airtel and Glo have restored emergency airtime lending services to millions of Nigerian subscribers after the country\u2019s competition regulator suspended enforcement of its controversial digital lending rules following a Federal High Court order.
\nThe Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) announced on May 22 that it had suspended enforcement of its Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations (DEON Regulations) 2025, after an interim order issued by the Federal High Court in Lagos halted implementation.
\nAyo Stuffman, chairman of the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN), confirmed the resumption on Monday. \u201cAs we speak, the services in question are already active on Airtel and Glo,\u201d Stuffman said, adding that he was confident MTN would also restore services given the recent developments from the FCCPC.
\nThe court order, issued by Justice A.L. Allagoa on April 15, restrained the FCCPC from implementing the rules after a lawsuit filed by WASPAN, whose members argued that airtime credit cannot be classified as a conventional loan.
\nThe suspension in April had disrupted services for an estimated 40 million subscribers nationwide, cutting off a form of short-term microcredit relied upon heavily by low-income earners, traders and small business owners who depend on uninterrupted communication for daily operations. Industry estimates put the annual airtime lending market at over N400 billion.
\nThe FCCPC originally introduced the DEON Regulations in 2025 to tackle abusive practices by digital loan apps, including borrower harassment, hidden charges and public shaming of debtors. The regulations adopted a broad definition of lending that extended beyond cash loans to cover airtime credit, deferred-payment data bundles and buy-now-pay-later services, pulling telecom operators into a compliance framework they argued fell outside the FCCPC\u2019s statutory reach.
\nIndustry stakeholders argued that telecom-enabled services fall under the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) regulatory purview under the Nigerian Communications Act 2003, not the FCCPC. NCC Executive Vice Chairman Aminu Maida had publicly backed that position at an industry briefing in April, insisting airtime credit qualifies as a telecom value-added service.
\nDespite suspending enforcement, the FCCPC signalled it would contest the court\u2019s jurisdiction, instructing its legal team to challenge both the interim order and the competence of the suit filed against it. MTN, meanwhile, has said its XtraTime service can only be restored following a definitive court ruling removing the FCCPC from regulating telecom digital lending, or after receiving explicit FCCPC approval, meaning millions of MTN subscribers remain without the service while the legal battle continues.
\nThe Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has previously called for clearer regulatory boundaries in the sector, warning that unpredictable oversight conditions undermine investor confidence. The final outcome of the court dispute will determine which regulator, the FCCPC or the NCC, exercises authority over Nigeria\u2019s fast-growing digital credit ecosystem.
\n NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https:\/\/www.newsghana.com.gh\/airtel-glo-restore-airtime-lending-after-court-order\/<\/p>\n

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NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https:\/\/www.newsghana.com.gh\/airtel-glo-restore-airtime-lending-after-court-order\/Airtel and Glo have restored emergency airtime lending services to millions of Nigerian subscribers after the country\u2019s competition regulator suspended enforcement of its controversial digital lending rules following a Federal High Court order. The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) announced on May 22 that it had suspended enforcement of its Digital, Electronic, Online [\u2026] NewsGhana, Latest Updates and Breaking News of Ghana, News Ghana, https:\/\/www.newsghana.com.gh\/airtel-glo-restore-airtime-lending-after-court-order\/<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"registered_only","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18383,18384,18385,18386,1300],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-121181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-airtel","category-airtime-lending","category-deon-regulations","category-fccpc","category-nigeria","post_format-post-format-link"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=121181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121181\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=121181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=121181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=121181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}