MTN sees Nigeria rebound as airtime lending returns

MTN Group expects its Nigerian business to regain momentum in the second half of 2026 after airtime lending resumed after a regulatory suspension in April.

MTN said it cut its airtime lending base to about a quarter of its first-quarter run rate, weighing on revenue through April, May and June. The company is now rebuilding the service, with four vendors in place, and expects lending activity to recover through the second half.

Airtime lending was a key source of MTN Nigeria’s fintech revenue, and its suspension cost the business about ₦50 billion ($37.1 million) in revenue in the first half of 2026. With the service returning, MTN expects growth to pick up.

The telco reported 13% service revenue growth for the period, but group management said growth would have been in the high 20s if the airtime lending suspension and the effect of last year’s tariff increase were excluded. MTN suspended its airtime lending service in April after the Federal Competition & Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), Nigeria’s consumer watchdog, subjected the service to new licencing and consumer-protection requirements.

In rebuilding the service, Ralph Mupita, MTN Group CEO, said the company expects the eligible customer base to gradually recover through the third and fourth quarters.

“We received communications from the FCCPC, and we’re back on a recovery path with airtime advance,” Mupita said during MTN Group’s H1 results presentation on Monday. “So, in Q3 and Q4, we should start to see that build back up in terms of the whitelisting base, where we can extend airtime advance in Nigeria.”

The recovery is key to MTN’s plans for Nigeria, one of its biggest growth markets. Despite the disruption, demand remains strong, with more people signing up and using more data.

MTN Nigeria added about 7.5 million subscribers during the period while stepping up investment in network expansion, including mobile services, fixed wireless access and fibre. The company spent ₦620.5 billion ($460.8 million) on capital expenditure, excluding leases, with ₦390.3 billion ($289.8 million) spent in Q1 2026 alone—up 92.8% from the same period in 2025, according to its H1 2026 financial report released on July 30, 2026.

But the airtime lending dispute also shows that telecom services in Nigeria are coming under closer regulatory scrutiny.

Services such as MTN’s XtraTime, Globacom’s Borrow Me Credit, and Airtel’s Extra Credit allow customers to receive airtime or data on credit and repay when they next recharge. While traditionally treated as telecom value-added services, regulators have increasingly viewed such products through a consumer-credit lens, bringing them into a more complex regulatory environment.

The disruption also shows how dependent telecom revenue can be on services that sit outside the traditional voice and data business. Airtime lending may appear small compared with core connectivity, but its impact on revenue becomes visible when millions of customers rely on it to stay connected between recharges.

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