Airtel and Globacom have already restored similar services. MTN now follows after the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) suspended enforcement of the Digital, Electronic, Online or Non-Traditional Consumer Lending (DEON) Regulations 2025.

The regulator introduced the policy in 2025 and classified airtime and data lending as consumer credit. This required telecom operators and their partners to obtain licences and meet compliance conditions.

In April 2026, MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile suspended airtime lending services to comply with the directive.

A court order issued on April 15, 2026, followed a case filed by the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN), which represents value-added service providers. The order triggered further regulatory challenges and expanded the disruption.

By one estimate, the suspension affected about 40 million subscribers across Nigeria. Many of them depend on airtime borrowing for quick communication, small business operations and emergency use. The service sits within a market valued at about ₦400 billion.

MTN had initially taken a careful position. The company told investors it would not restart Xtratime unless the regulations were struck down or it received a clear directive to resume.

That position has now changed, after the FCCPC paused enforcement on May 22, 2026, MTN confirmed it will reinstate the service.

A company insider said: “The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has suspended the enforcement of DEON. To that extent, we will reinstate the service,”

Competition also had an impact. Airtel and Globacom moved earlier to restore their own airtime lending platforms once the enforcement pause began, increasing pressure on MTN to follow.

MTN Xtratime lending allows customers to borrow airtime or data and repay on later top-ups. The service generates fees for the company and supports overall network usage.

During an earnings call, MTN Nigeria chief executive Karl Toriola said the impact on usage was short-lived. He said:

“There was a short-term impact on consumption patterns, which lasted only a few days,” MTN Nigeria chief executive officer Karl Toriola said during the earnings call. “However, as time progressed, customers adapted. They either shifted to self-funded usage or found alternative ways to manage short-term needs.”

The company estimates that Xtratime fees contribute about 3% of total revenue. Airtime and data linked to the service account for roughly 20% of overall airtime distribution.

Tobechukwu Okigbo, MTN Nigeria’s chief corporate services and sustainability officer, also noted earlier concerns around resumption conditions.

He said: “First, we would require either a court ruling that sets aside the regulations empowering the FCCPC to license, which has not happened, or a clear directive instructing us to reinstate the service.”

MTN Nigeria recorded ₦5.2 trillion in revenue in 2025, equal to about $3.77 billion. It expects this to rise to ₦6.24 trillion, or about $4.52 billion, in 2026.

Despite the disruption, MTN maintains that airtime consumption patterns are still stable. The company argues that customers mainly changed how they pay, not how much they use services.

“I note that MTN does not expect Xtratime’s absence to derail performance targets,” an executive said in internal discussions around the update.

In its first quarter 2026 report, MTN said it is still onboarding approved partners and expects full restoration once the process is completed.

The company now treats the service as operationally important but not critical to overall performance.

The resumption follows a six-week suspension that frozen a critical mobile value-added service (VAS) market used by millions of subscribers.

The service restoration comes after the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) issued a public notice suspending the enforcement of its controversial Digital, Electronic, Online, or Non-Traditional (DEON) Consumer Lending Regulations 2025.

This regulatory backtrack was triggered by an interim injunction granted by the Federal High Court in Lagos, following a legal challenge spearheaded by the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPAN).

The Roots of the Dispute: Overlapping Jurisdictions

The crisis began when the FCCPC expanded the interpretation of its DEON framework to classify deferred-payment telecom services, such as Globacom’s “Borrow Me Credit” and Airtel’s emergency credit advances, as conventional digital loans.

Under these rules, telecom operators and their technical partner platforms were classified as digital money lenders.

This expansion subjected them to aggressive credit-checking burdens, data privacy disclosures, and steep non-compliance penalties of up to ₦100 million or 1% of annual turnover.

The move faced immediate pushback from the telecom ecosystem. Telcos and value-added service providers argued that emergency airtime is an advance on services, not a cash loan product. They maintained that the sector is already strictly regulated under the statutory mandate of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

In April, Dr. Aminu Maida, NCC executive vice chairman clarified the regulator’s stance, noting that airtime advances fall explicitly under telecom value-added services governed by the Nigerian Communications Act, rather than commercial consumer lending frameworks.

Current Network Status and Access Codes

While Airtel and Glo have fully reactivated their systems, market checks indicate that MTN Nigeria has not yet restored its airtime lending service, though industry insiders expect a resumption shortly as regulatory clearance is finalized.

Subscribers on the active networks can now access emergency credit lines using the harmonized USSD shortcodes previously mandated by the NCC:

• Airtel Nigeria: Dial *303#
• Globacom (Glo): Dial *303#

Why This Matters for the Digital Economy

The six-week freeze highlighted the growing challenge of regulatory overlap in Nigeria’s fast-evolving digital landscape, where fintech, telecommunications, and consumer commerce increasingly intersect.

For value-added service providers, the freeze threatened a multi-billion naira revenue stream. For the broader economy, the sudden withdrawal of micro-credit communication buffers directly impacted low-income subscribers relying on short-term credit lines during cash-flow shortages.

While the FCCPC has indicated its intent to legally challenge the interim court order, the current enforcement halt provides needed operational stability for telecom operators and immediate relief for millions of mobile consumers.

This milestone represents a significant step forward in the ongoing evolution of Nigeria’s telecommunications landscape.

Following this partnership, IMBIL Telecom has successfully onboarded five Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs), with several additional operators currently in advanced stages of technical and commercial integration and expected to commence operations in the coming months.

This progress underscores IMBIL’s position as a key enabler of innovation, competition, and market expansion within the Nigerian telecom sector.

Speaking on the achievement, Akeem Ogunkoya, chairman and chief executive officer of IMBIL Telecom, noted:

“As the pioneer MVNE in the Nigerian telecom market, our mission is to lower the barrier to entry for aspiring telecom operators. Our partnership with Airtel Nigeria provides a solid foundation for MVNOs to thrive by leveraging world‑class infrastructure and scalable technology. We are proud to have onboarded five MVNOs already and are encouraged by the strong pipeline of operators preparing to enter the market.”

He further acknowledged the role of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in creating a forward‑looking regulatory environment that continues to support MVNO growth, innovation, and fair competition across the industry.

IMBIL Telecom’s MVNE platform delivers comprehensive, end‑to‑end capabilities, including core network services, provisioning, billing systems, regulatory compliance support, and a wide range of value‑added services.

This integrated approach allows MVNOs to focus on customer acquisition, brand development, and service innovation while relying on a robust and scalable backend infrastructure.

As demand for affordable, flexible, and customer‑centric telecom services continues to grow, IMBIL Telecom remains committed to empowering startups, entrepreneurs, and established enterprises seeking to enter or expand within the telecom space.

Through adaptable commercial frameworks, advanced technology, and dedicated operational support, the company continues to promote inclusivity and digital access across Nigeria.

The collaboration with Airtel Nigeria reflects a shared vision to deepen market penetration, enhance digital inclusion, and drive the next phase of telecom innovation nationwide.

The data shows that all four major service providers posted growth within the one-month period, signaling sustained demand for internet services across the country.

Market leader MTN Nigeria maintained its dominance, growing its subscriber base from 82.21 million in February to 82.53 million in March. Airtel Nigeria also recorded an increase, rising from 54.07 million to 54.22 million subscribers.

In the same vein, Globacom expanded its user base from 15.39 million to 15.56 million within the review period.

Meanwhile, 9mobile, now operating under the T2 brand, posted a notable uptick, growing from 805,605 subscribers in February to 847,225 in March.

Overall, the industry added approximately 670,000 new internet users in March, reinforcing the steady growth trajectory of Nigeria’s digital ecosystem.

Analysts say the incremental rise reflects ongoing investments in network expansion, improved service delivery, and increasing reliance on digital platforms for communication, commerce, and entertainment.

The continued growth underscores the critical role of the telecom sector in supporting Nigeria’s digital economy ambitions, even as operators navigate infrastructure and regulatory challenges.

Techeconomy Insight show the ranking is based on user-generated quality measurements, including download and upload speeds, latency and video streaming performance, from real devices across Nigeria.

When the 2025 edition was published, the report only included operators with a sufficient share of test data, focusing on networks that represent the majority of internet users nationwide.

According to the methodology described in coverage of the barometer:

nPerf excludes operators whose user test share falls below a minimum threshold, typically around 5% of total test traffic.

At the time of the report, MTN, Airtel and Globacom accounted for the overwhelming share of mobile internet subscriptions and testing data used to generate the performance ranking.

In contrast, Nigeria’s fourth operator, T2 Mobile, had a very small share of mobile internet subscriptions, reported at around 2.1 million active internet connections (~1.7–2.1 % market share) compared with tens of millions on MTN, Airtel and Glo.

Because this share was below the inclusion cut-off, nPerf did not have enough test data from 9mobile users to produce statistically meaningful performance metrics, and thus omitted it from the operator rankings.

Why T2 Mobile’s Test Share is So Low

Several factors help explain why T2’s test data was insufficient for inclusion:

Dramatic Subscriber Decline

T2 Mobile has suffered consistent subscriber losses over recent years, with tens of thousands porting out monthly as customers migrate to networks with better coverage and service quality.

Small Market Share

By late 2024–early 2025, T2 Mobile’s market share had fallen to under 2 % of Nigeria’s mobile subscriber base, far below the threshold held by MTN, Airtel and Globacom.

Service Quality Issues

Independent reports and user complaints have highlighted network disruptions and inconsistent service quality on T2 Mobile, which can reduce both data usage and the number of users conducting speed tests via analysis apps like nPerf.

Rebranding and Transition

T2 Mobile’s ongoing transformation, including its rebrand to T2 Mobile and strategic partnerships such as national roaming with MTN, reflects attempts to stabilise coverage and recover relevance, but at the time of the nPerf dataset these changes had not yet translated into a larger base of active internet users.

What This Means for the Market

T2 Mobile’s absence from the barometer should not be interpreted as a technical exclusion alone, it reflects deeper competitive dynamics in the Nigerian telecoms market:

The dominance of MTN, Airtel and Globacom in terms of network quality and subscriber base drives the bulk of measurable user internet performance.

Smaller operators struggle to generate the critical mass of user data needed for inclusion in independent performance studies.

Investors and industry watchers can view such reports as market share and user experience indicators, in addition to pure network performance rankings.

Simply put,

T2 was not featured because it simply did not generate enough user-based internet tests to meet nPerf’s reporting criteria.

The background of this story >>> here.

A recent nPerf Barometer of mobile internet connections, covering data collected between January 1 and December 31, 2024, offers a detailed snapshot of how mobile connectivity is performing across the country and what it means for consumers, businesses, and investors.

Performance Leaders in Nigeria’s Mobile Internet

MTN establishes itself as leader of mobile Internet in Nigeria for 2025, according to the annual nPerf barometer.

This edition reveals strong competition between three major operators with differentiated service profiles across all performance indicators.

MTN leads the sector with 37 106 nPoints and dominates all measured indicators. With download bitrate of 18.7 Mbps and upload bitrate of 8.7 Mbps, the operator delivers the fastest speeds in the market.

Leader in browsing (35.8%) and video streaming (67.0%), it ensures a smooth experience for data-intensive applications.

ALSO READ: MTN | Airtel | Glo | 9mobile: Which Network Offered Best Mobile Internet Performance in 2024?

Airtel ranks second with 25 614 nPoints and achieves solid performances across key metrics.

Download bitrate reaches 10.6 Mbps and upload bitrate 4.7 Mbps, supporting reliable video calls and content sharing.

The operator demonstrates strong video streaming capabilities (62.5%, 2nd position), providing users with consistent content delivery.

Glo completes the podium with 20 475 nPoints and displays the best latency in the sector (121.8 ms).

The operator ranks second in browsing (29.9%), ensuring efficient web navigation for users.

Nigeria’s fourth operator, T2 (formerly 9mobile) is conspicuously missing in the recent nPerf Barometer of mobile internet connections for Nigeria. Find out why here.

“The Nigerian market demonstrates strong competition with three operators delivering increasingly capable networks for streaming and data-intensive applications”, declares Sébastien de Rosbo, chief executive officer of nPerf.

Market Context and Competitive Dynamics

While MTN held the performance crown in 2025, Airtel and Glo remain important competitive players.

Airtel delivered solid results in specific areas such as browsing and video performance, while Globacom showed steady improvements in overall connectivity metrics.

The nPerf Barometer’s methodology, which draws on millions of real-world tests performed by users across busy and idle hours, gives a statistically robust view of network quality throughout the year.

Telecom Growth and Technology Adoption

These insights arrive at a time when Nigeria’s telecommunications sector is experiencing significant technology shifts:

• 4G remains dominant, serving the bulk of mobile data traffic, while 5G adoption continues to grow, albeit from a low base. As of late 2024, 5G connections were expanding in urban centres like Lagos and Abuja, even though broader adoption is constrained by device and infrastructure costs.
• Broader connectivity trends indicate that mobile broadband accounts for the vast majority of active connections, highlighting how central mobile networks are to Nigeria’s digital participation.

Strategic Implications for Business and Investment

For businesses and investors, the nPerf Barometer results are more than just performance rankings, they highlight structural trends with economic implications:

Quality Drives Digital Adoption: Higher speeds, lower latency, and better streaming experiences are key to unlocking consumer and enterprise demand for services such as e-commerce, cloud computing, fintech applications, telemedicine, and remote work platforms.

Network Investment Signals Long-Term Value: Operators that prioritize infrastructure upgrades, particularly in 4G and 5G expansion, can capture more data traffic, command premium service offerings, and lead in customer retention.

Competitive Differentiation Attracts Capital: As telecoms evolve into platforms supporting broader digital ecosystems, performance leadership can become a driver of market share and investor confidence.

Digital Divide Opportunities: Persistent gaps in coverage or performance (especially outside major cities) signal opportunities for targeted investments in infrastructure sharing, regional network expansion, and digital inclusion initiatives.

Market Outlook

The Nigerian mobile internet market remains dynamic, with expanding user expectations and intensifying competition.

As digital services become more integral to economic activity, the quality of connectivity will be a defining factor in how quickly businesses can adapt, scale, and innovate.

The nPerf Barometer offers a valuable benchmark, one that captures not just speeds and scores, but the evolving realities of connectivity that are shaping Nigeria’s digital economy and investment landscape.

NCC Looking into Telecoms Competition:

Meanwhile, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the sector’s chief regulator, has formally engaged global consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to conduct the first comprehensive, independent study of competition in the nation’s telecommunications industry in over a decade.

Mrs Omotayo Mohammed, head, Competition and Tariff at the NCC, in her opening remarks at recent Stakeholders’ Forum on the Study on the Level of Competition in the Nigerian Telecom Industry, noted that the telecom market has evolved significantly over the past years.

According to her, revenue models have shifted, investment patterns have changed, and new forms of market interaction have emerged.

“We are witnessing rapid technological change, evolving consumer expectations and usage patterns, rising investment costs, and heightened competitive pressures.

Concurrently, concerns around barriers to entry, market concentration, sustainability of smaller players, and quality of service continue to warrant careful consideration. These dynamics highlight the importance of continuous validation of competition policy assumptions against current market evidence,” she said.

Continue Reading >>>> here

The report, released under the Speedtest Awards banner, highlights MTN’s superior performance in download and upload speeds, cementing its leadership in mobile broadband innovation and 5G deployment.

Key Performance Highlights (Q2 2024)

5G Rollout Driving Speed Revolution

MTN Nigeria launched its 5G network commercially in September 2022, covering major cities such as Lagos, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ibadan, Kano, Owerri, and Maiduguri.

The company reportedly invested over $120 million in infrastructure upgrades, spectrum acquisition, and rollout, enabling it to deliver next-generation connectivity to millions of users.

According to Ookla, both Nigeria and Ghana have tripled their median download speeds in just two years, a clear reflection of network modernization and fiber expansion across the sub-region.

Industry Significance

The recognition underscores the role of private sector innovation in driving Africa’s digital transformation.

For consumers, the performance leap means smoother streaming, online gaming, and video calls.
For businesses, it enhances cloud adoption, fintech transactions, and remote operations, critical enablers for a digital economy.

The Road Ahead

As Nigeria’s telecom sector continues to evolve, all eyes are on how competition; Airtel and Mafab will respond to MTN’s dominance in the 5G race. Is there possibility of Glo and 9mobile joining the race too?

The industry regulator – Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and industry stakeholders are also expected to prioritize spectrum availability and rural broadband coverage to sustain this momentum.

Summary of the Report:

The assessment, conducted on August 27, 2025, forms part of Enextgen’s National Independent Wireless Broadband Quality Reporting (NIWBQR) initiative, which evaluates 4G LTE and 5G network performance nationwide.

The tests were carried out along key routes in Abuja using Enextgen’s proprietary EMETRICS platform, combining field data from its Enextlog app with post-processing on AWS Cloud.

MTN Dominates Key Data Performance Indicators

According to the report, MTN consistently outperformed competitors across all major Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including throughput, latency, and internet access success rate.

Enextgen noted that MTN’s 5G network achieved an average packet latency of 79 milliseconds and an internet access success rate of 99.79%, the best among all tested networks.

In contrast, 9Mobile’s network experienced access issues during parts of the test, with connectivity dropping around 11:40 a.m., which significantly affected its overall performance metrics.

Voice Quality: MTN and 9Mobile Ahead

Voice call testing, covering 1,000 calls per operator, revealed that MTN and 9Mobile achieved the highest call setup success rates (CSSR) and lowest drop rates, while Airtel recorded the highest blocked call rate.

The report also highlighted that Globacom still relies on Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB) for voice calls, an older technology that switches users from 4G to 2G or 3G for calls, often causing slower call setup and interrupted data sessions.

MTN, Airtel, and 9Mobile, however, use Voice over LTE (VoLTE), which delivers faster call connections and higher call quality.

Technical Evaluation and Broader Significance

The report’s measurements focused on signal quality parameters such as Reference Signal Received Power (RSRP), Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise Ratio (SINR), and Reference Signal Received Quality (RSRQ).

In these radio-frequency (RF) categories, MTN’s 5G network achieved the strongest results, with average RSRP at -86 dBm, RSRQ at -11 dB, and SINR of 12 dB, signaling a robust and well-optimized deployment.

Enextgen emphasized that such performance data helps operators identify coverage gaps, improve customer experience, and reduce reliance on foreign consultants for network optimization, a challenge that often delays fixes and raises operating costs for Nigerian telecoms.

“Our platform enables local operators to diagnose and address quality issues using indigenous expertise rather than waiting for expensive foreign interventions,” according to the report endorsed by Engr. Aderemi Adeyeye, the President/CEO of Enex Inc.

Enextgen and NIWBQR

Founded in 2016, Enextgen Wireless Limited specializes in mobile broadband quality monitoring and network benchmarking. Its NIWBQR program provides independent public reporting on mobile network quality across Nigeria, focusing on 4G LTE and emerging 5G networks.

Results and live dashboards from the study are publicly available here.

Conclusion

The Abuja benchmarking confirms MTN’s dominance in both 4G and 5G broadband quality, as well as its leadership in voice service reliability.

While Airtel and Glo showed moderate performance, 9Mobile’s connectivity lapses underscored the importance of consistent network maintenance and monitoring.

With 5G adoption expanding and competition intensifying, Enextgen’s independent evaluations provide a data-driven benchmark for improving mobile broadband quality, a crucial factor for Nigeria’s digital economy.

Analysis of NCC’s industry statistics as of June 2025 shows that Nigeria recorded 2,092.86% 5G growth in the last one year, increasing from 0.14 per cent recorded in June 2024 to 3.07 per cent in 2025.

However, despite its upward curve, 5G still lags far behind 4G, which continues to dominate the market, while legacy 2G and 3G networks remain surprisingly resilient.

Nigeria’s three licensed and active 5G operators are MTN, Airtel, and Mafab Communications. MTN pioneered the rollout in September 2022, Airtel followed in June 2023, while Mafab began deploying its services later that year.

Although all three have continued expanding coverage, adoption has been sluggish, hindered largely by the high cost of 5G-enabled devices and the significant expenses of infrastructure deployment.

The Numbers Behind the Shift

5G: Market share climbed from 0.96% in Nov 2023 to 3.07% by Jun 2025, more than tripling in 19 months.

4G: The clear leader, rising from 29.91% in Nov 2023 to 50.80% in Jun 2025, now accounting for half of all connections in Nigeria.

2G: Declined steadily from 59.32% in Nov 2023 to 38.47% in Jun 2025, but still represents nearly 4 in 10 connections.

3G: Fell modestly from 9.90% in Nov 2023 to 7.66% in Jun 2025, as users migrate to 4G and 5G.

Trend Analysis

5G’s Growth: Uptake is encouraging but slow, limited by device affordability, coverage gaps, and rollout costs. Moving from under 1% in 2023 to just over 3% in mid-2025 shows progress, but mass adoption remains distant.

4G’s Dominance: Its rise past the 50% mark in May 2025 underscores Nigeria’s strong appetite for data services, as telcos aggressively expand LTE coverage and bundle affordable data plans.

2G’s Persistence: Despite rapid decline, 2G remains the fallback for voice and basic connectivity, especially in rural areas.

3G’s Decline shows the technology is losing relevance as operators and consumers leapfrog directly from 2G to 4G/5G.

What This Means for Nigeria’s Digital Future

Bridging digital divide: hence the coexistence of high 2G usage alongside growing 4G and emerging 5G highlights Nigeria’s urban-rural connectivity gap.

Government initiatives through the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on spectrum allocation, infrastructure sharing, and affordable devices will be crucial to accelerate 5G uptake.

As 4G reaches maturity, operators will need to position 5G as a mass-market service, not just a premium urban option.

Wider 5G adoption could unlock opportunities in fintech, e-health, IoT, and smart cities, but only if rollout challenges are addressed.

While Nigeria’s 5G journey is gathering pace, the NCC statistics reveal that the country is still firmly a 4G nation, with 2G lingering as a legacy safety net.

The next two years will be critical in determining whether 5G remains a niche service or becomes the backbone of Nigeria’s digital economy.

The service suspension stemmed from NIMC’s migration to NINAuth, a more secure digital identity platform for verifying National Identity Numbers (NINs) during SIM registration and related services.

By the weekend of July 21–22, 2025, MTN and Airtel confirmed service restoration via social media, assuring users that NIMC’s portal was back online. Glo and 9mobile are expected to follow suit shortly.

The restoration brings relief to millions affected by the outage, especially users needing SIM replacements or new lines. It also highlights the growing importance of seamless digital ID integration in Nigeria’s telecom sector.

With services stabilizing, telcos are urging customers facing residual issues to visit their nearest service centers.

The episode underscores the need for stronger coordination among regulators and operators to avoid future service disruptions during system upgrades.