Telcos yet to lift suspension on airtime loan services despite court order

By Prince Osuagwu,
Hi-Tech Editor

​Almost a month since a Federal High Court sitting in Lagos granted interim injunctions ordering a halt to the enforcement of the controversial Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations 2025, DEON, pending judicial review, the telecom operators are yet to lift suspension on the services, keeping an estimated 40 million subscribers and habitual micro-credit users stranded.

The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, FCCPC in April shocked the telecom industry, announcing a sudden enforcement of the controversial Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending Regulations 2025, DEON.

The action completely paralyzed the country’s ₦400 billion annual airtime and data lending market.
They were cut off from critical emergency lifelines.

However, the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN) went to court to challenge the action.

On April 15, 2026, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa, in a federal high court sitting in Lagos, granted four interim injunctions against FCCPC, in the suit marked FHC/L/CS/760/2026.

The court restrained the commission, its officers and agents from enforcing the DEON Regulations, including several key provisions of the framework.

It further barred theFCCPC from interfering with the operations of WASPA members, imposing sanctions or fines for alleged non-compliance, or issuing directives connected to the enforcement of the regulations.

Yet, despite the interim Injuction, the telcos are yet reverse the suspension.
Some of the telcos who spoke to Sunday Vanguard, said despite the interim injunction, the case is still in court and the proper thing would be for them to wait for final decision of the court on the case.
A top MTN who spoke to us said: “Ordinarily when a case is in court, it is not meant to be discussed outside the court again. But I can tell you that interim injunction is not a final decision of a case. So we are waiting for the final decision on the case”.
Many primary sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), and other top government stakeholders have maintained a stony, mysterious silence.

Meanwhile, ​industry stakeholders and consumer protection groups are raising the alarm over the lull the impasse is causing the market, asking both the FCCPC and NCC to align quickly and tesolve the matter so as not to be accused of administrative abdication of duty.

A mobile accesory distributor Samuel Johnson said: “As the statutory custodian of the telecommunications industry, the NCC’s complete refusal to issue a definitive public statement or intervene in the direct encroachment on its regulatory territory by the FCCPC has left both domestic subscribers and foreign investors in a state of deep anxiety”.

The Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, ALTON, through its chairman Engr Gbenga Adebayo had previously flagged these looming jurisdictional conflicts, warning that allowing a consumer-protection agency to arbitrarily reclassify telecom utilities as financial products would trigger severe operational friction.
Today, those warnings have manifested as a total freeze across all major GSM networks.

While the FCCPC, justified its position by citing over 11,000 complaints against independent, unregulated mobile loan applications known for consumer defamation, telecom operators argue that their automated network utilities, such as MTN’s XtraTime and Airtel’s emergency data credit, operate transparently, without interest-bearing traps or debt collectors.

Industry practitioners argue that by treating vital utility infrastructure with the same brush used for predatory loan sharks, the regulator has inadvertently dismantled an ecosystem that millions of vulnerable Nigerians depend on for daily economic survival.

They also called out the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, the Goveenor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Olayemi Cardoso, and the Special Adviser to the President on Technology and Digital Economy, Idris Alubankudi, to take the issue seriously and work towards a speedy resolution.

They argued that from small-scale traders who rely on emergency airtime to run their mobile shopfronts, to individuals cut off during critical emergencies when immediate funds are unavailable, the current shutdown stands in direct opposition to goveenment’s promise of digital inclusion and the ease of doing business.

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