Airtime Crisis Sparks New Investment Trends Across Africa

Optasia's Revenue Growth and Regulatory Challenges

Optasia, a JSE-listed company that provides airtime and data credit infrastructure across African and Asian markets, has reported significant revenue growth for the first half of 2026. The company experienced a 50–60% increase in revenue, with adjusted EBITDA growing by 40–50%. This growth was driven by new deployments in West Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Despite this success, the company’s oldest market, Nigeria, continues to face regulatory challenges that could impact its operations.

Nigeria remains Optasia’s largest single market by revenue, but it has been flagged as a disruption risk. Transaction volumes in the country have not recovered to pre-disruption levels, which is a concern for the company’s overall performance. The disruption stems from an enforcement action by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC), which extended its DEON Consumer Lending Regulations to cover telecom airtime credit services.

The FCCPC introduced these regulations in response to documented consumer harm from predatory digital lending applications. However, the industry acknowledges that the issue is real and requires careful regulation. The dispute lies in whether airtime credit, a telecom service already regulated by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), falls within the FCCPC’s framework. Industry stakeholders argue that the FCCPC bypassed the mandatory Regulatory Impact Assessment required by the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council before intervening in a market estimated at N300-400 billion annually.

Impact on Investment and Market Stability

The regulatory uncertainty in Nigeria has had a noticeable impact on foreign capital inflows into the telecom sector. According to National Bureau of Statistics data, foreign capital inflows fell from $80.78 million to $7.24 million in Q1 2026. This decline highlights the importance of regulatory clarity for attracting long-term investment.

ALTON chairman Gbenga Adebayo has disclosed that mobile operators invested N2.13 trillion in capital expenditure in 2025 and earmarked N1.86 trillion for 2026. He warned in April that a market with unclear regulatory jurisdiction will struggle to attract long-term investment. President Tinubu has set a target of $20 billion in foreign direct investment, but achieving this goal depends on the regulatory environment providing the certainty institutional investors require before committing multi-year capital.

Optasia CEO Salvador Anglada has stated that 80 to 85 per cent of the company’s growth over the next two to three years will come from Africa. At the company’s JSE listing in November, he emphasized that choosing Johannesburg as its listing venue was a natural choice, reflecting the company’s identity as an Africa-centred business.

Regulatory Developments and Future Outlook

The filing suggests that Optasia’s commitment to Africa is being delivered, but Nigeria’s share of that commitment is being reshaped by the regulatory environment. There are early signs that the situation may be stabilising. Airtime credit services were restored across all four major operators in late June, and Anglada welcomed the resumption, describing airtime credit as an essential service that helps consumers remain connected.

Optasia’s Nigerian subsidiary, Nairtime Nigeria, is locally incorporated and led by Nigerian national Uchenna Agbo, who has served as chief executive since the company’s founding. The company has publicly stated that it remains committed to the Nigerian market and to constructive engagement with regulators.

Whether that commitment translates into renewed investment deployment depends on what happens next. If the regulatory environment stabilises, if market-entry processes become transparent, and if the coordination framework between the FCCPC and the NCC is formalised, the conditions will be in place for Nigeria to recapture its position within Optasia’s continental strategy.

The Federal High Court judgment on 20 July could determine whether the trajectory reverses or whether the share of African fintech investment flowing through Lagos continues to thin as other markets absorb the growth.

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