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The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission’s list of approved airtime and data credit operators has expanded from five to nine, with four new firms added to a licensing framework that remains the subject of an active Federal High Court injunction and that the Commission itself publicly suspended on 22 May 2026.
The four new entrants are Technotrends Platforms Nigeria Limited, Fonyou Technologies Nigeria Limited, MRS Innovation Nigeria Limited, and ERL Telecoms Service Limited. They join the five firms the Commission originally approved on 22 April 2026: Total Tim Nigeria Limited, Rane Interactive Medien CLS Limited, Mode NG Applications Limited, Cloud Interactive Associate Limited, and Coverage Broadband Limited.
The expanded list raises questions about the current status of the DEON Consumer Lending Regulations 2025, under which all nine firms have been licensed.
On 15 April 2026, Justice Ambrose Lewis-Allagoa of the Federal High Court in Lagos granted an interim injunction in Suit No. FHC/L/CS/760/2026, restraining the Commission from enforcing or implementing the DEON framework against members of the Wireless Application Service Providers Association of Nigeria (WASPA). The Commission applied to have the injunction discharged on 28 April; the court refused, and the order remains in full force.
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On 18 May, committal proceedings were filed against the Commission’s Executive Vice Chairman for alleged contempt of the court order. Four days later, on 22 May, the Commission announced it was suspending DEON enforcement, citing compliance with the court’s directive. Airtel Nigeria and Globacom subsequently restored airtime credit services to subscribers.
The expansion from five to nine approved operators was confirmed in reports published by national newspapers on 6 June 2026, which cited sources within the Commission. The reports indicated that the approvals form part of a broader effort to open the airtime credit market to indigenous fintech companies.
Industry stakeholders have questioned how new commercial rights can be created under a regulatory framework that is simultaneously subject to judicial restraint and administratively suspended.
ALTON chairman Gbenga Adebayo, who welcomed the FCCPC’s May suspension as a positive step, has previously called for stronger coordination between regulatory agencies to prevent further disruption to the estimated 40 million Nigerians who relied on airtime credit services.
