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Home Spotlight

Why Airtel Nigeria credited subscribers with free airtime

Chike Olisah by Chike Olisah
October 20, 2020
in Spotlight
Regulation forces Airtel Africa to initiate shares listing in Malawi , Airtel Africa’s profit up 12.9%, customer base reaches 111.5 million in Q2
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Airtel Nigeria has disclosed that it credited its subscribers with N1,000 airtime and data as compensation for service disruptions on its network on Friday, October 16, 2020.

This was contained in messages sent by the network provider to its subscribers, informing them that the airtime and free data were compensation for service disruptions.

READ: Airtel Africa to list on MSE

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There had been social media reports that Airtel Nigeria was crediting its subscribers with free N1,000 airtime. While many of the subscribers did not know the reason for the unusual gesture by the network provider, they claimed it was a cyberattack by ‘Anonymous’ hackers after it had asked Airtel Nigeria subscribers to check their balance for N1,000 airtime.

Some others claimed that the free airtime was a giveaway to support the ongoing #EndSARS campaign in the country.

READ: Outrage on Twitter as DStv increases subscription fees amid COVID-19 pandemic

The message from Airtel states, “Dear customer, we apologise for the recent service disruption experienced on October 16. Normal service has been restored and your line will be credited with five minutes of on-net calls and 100MB of data both valid for one day.”

This is in line with the compensation policy of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) for the industry.

A spate of hacks claimed to have been executed by an “Anonymous” hacker group had sparked rumours of bank accounts and Pay TV hacks on social media. Even some Federal Government agencies were not spared of the alleged hack by this same group.

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On Sunday when MultiChoice’s customers found that restriction had been lifted on all channels on DStv and Gotv, they attributed it to cyberattacks perpetrated by ‘Anonymous’.

However, a representative of the company said the Pay-TV company was upgrading its system and had informed its subscribers via text messages last week.

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Nairametrics had earlier reported that Airtel Nigeria had denied giving out free N1,000 credit to its subscribers. This follows the claim by the telecom firm’s subscribers on Twitter of being credited with N1,000 airtime after Anonymous hacker asked them to check their balance.


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Tags: Airtel NigeriaAnonymousBusiness News
Chike Olisah

Chike Olisah

Chike was a banker with over 11 years experience in retail and commercial banking, risk management, treasury portfolio management and relationship management. He also acquired some experience in financial management and do have some special interest in investment analysis and personal finance. He had stints with financial institutions like the former Intercontinental Bank and Fidelity Bank.

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Comments 59

  1. Olosunde Olumide Joseph says:
    October 20, 2020 at 6:53 am

    Airtel is an u serious entity, they vredited and removed after some times

    Reply
    • Feggieboss says:
      October 20, 2020 at 11:40 am

      Day were hacked

      Reply
    • Cecilia says:
      October 20, 2020 at 4:37 pm

      Airtel is not serious at all. It’s fake. My line was credited with 1,000 and removed again. Who begged you for free airtime when you knew you were not capable? Rubbish!!!

      Reply
      • Anonymous says:
        October 20, 2020 at 9:03 pm

        Bro this is nonsense they were hacked they took back the credit and they even took mine back which kind of poor journalism is this

        Reply
      • Anonymous says:
        October 20, 2020 at 11:48 pm

        Airtel can lie for African…u said compensation!But Airtel just remove the 1000 naira back because I did not use immediate….

        Reply
    • Amaka says:
      October 20, 2020 at 7:30 pm

      Airtel is a rubbish network provider, who begged you people for free airtime, they credited my line with #1000 nd later took it back nd my main balance was also deducted including my data of 4.5gb and there customer care is nt connecting. All of you in charge are mad!!

      Reply
      • Anonymous says:
        October 21, 2020 at 6:32 pm

        You are right. The same thing they did for me, removed the 1000 and also deducted my 100 balance. Stupid network with useless management.

        Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      October 21, 2020 at 9:07 am

      You nailed it. Exactly what happened

      Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      October 21, 2020 at 6:17 pm

      What a sweet lie, if they truly gifted subscribers #1000 worth of data/airtime, why then did they take it back from us

      Reply
  2. Michael noah says:
    October 20, 2020 at 7:30 am

    But mine was different,I didn’t receive any free ✈time

    Reply
  3. Ezinne says:
    October 20, 2020 at 7:46 am

    My two Airtel lines wasn’t credited yesterday. Please send me mine.

    Reply
  4. Raheem Adeniyi says:
    October 20, 2020 at 7:50 am

    It was a ruse and fraudulent act done by the Airtel firm in Nigeria by crediting people a thousand naira and still take it back within the shortest through a fraudulent number *234# yesterday, several numbers of people and good citizens of this nation were a sudden victim of this evil sent code to dial and press 1 and later 5 in which they will say to you your account will later be credited back with sum of #5,000 and at the end of this clicking this evil code, #1,000 will be deducted back or you will be debited in case you don’t have a sufficient funds or credit. This is not good for Airtel firm integrity.

    Reply
    • Aisha says:
      October 20, 2020 at 7:19 pm

      That’s very true. The same thing happened to me. I woke up this morning with zero credit. It’s all a scam. Should have known better. Airtel,that was low of you

      Reply
  5. Omobola Akinpelu says:
    October 20, 2020 at 8:18 am

    As a matter of fact, my airtel line was actually credited with this #1,0000, however,few hours later my balance including the #1,000 disappeared which also affected my data balance of 500 mb went down within 10 mins.

    Reply
  6. OMOYIOLA SUNDAY O. says:
    October 20, 2020 at 9:51 am

    There is no benefit for all credit bought of Airtel as their service get worst on daily bases. Never good signals both for browsing,calls and SMS sending to other network and to same Airtel line. My wife nd I using Airtel but can’t enjoy calling or pass message to each other so bad.
    They should realised if they fail to render beta and improve service to all loyal customer MTN,GLO & ETISALAT is solution since we have variety now.

    Reply
    • Collins says:
      October 20, 2020 at 10:40 am

      Do you need to CONTINUE suffering with them as if your family owns the company? Such a classless company.

      Reply
    • Sola says:
      October 20, 2020 at 7:51 pm

      Airtel lacks credibility. I couldn’t believe they credited and took away the bonus and my existing airtime without using anything. I called their customer service endlessly but they didn’t pick up. They will surely run down soon. So disgusting

      Reply
  7. Victor says:
    October 20, 2020 at 10:03 am

    This isn’t very pleasant….

    I used the 1,000 to sub for airtel talk more..

    To my greatest surprise this morning, airtime and data fly..

    This is more than fraudulent act.

    Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      October 20, 2020 at 10:39 am

      But if it was compensation to user, why take it away when some people have not even use it??
      Audio news

      Reply
    • Anonymous says:
      October 20, 2020 at 11:18 am

      Same here I called customer line to know why and they where speaking English

      Reply
  8. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 10:14 am

    I even used mine to subscribe, fiam this morning, the 1.5gb has disappeared.

    Reply
  9. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 10:24 am

    Airtel practically perpetuated a scam that will likely go un-investigated

    Reply
    • Prince Wonun says:
      October 20, 2020 at 6:42 pm

      We didn’t beg you for any call card compensation. Check our individual recharging and subscription strength you will realize that we do more than your staffs. You’re just a poor service provider who is very poor and can only give your customers free airtime like so said for just only a day to use. Fake poor network

      Reply
    • Edna Gabriel-Imhabele says:
      October 21, 2020 at 6:43 am

      Airtel be sincere for once, you credited our account like you claimed and took back what you credit. You are so shameless and insincere. Have some shame in. You and shut up you trap.

      Reply
  10. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 10:57 am

    Airtel is a bloody lying entity. The network was hacked and now they have started removing the N1000 airtel from customers balances. If you are lucky to have used yours, fine. If not they will remove it from your balance. They just removed mine this morning.

    Reply
  11. Ukaegbu chibuihe Ego faith says:
    October 20, 2020 at 11:23 am

    I received 1k yesterday and I used it for sub, but this morning everything including my old sub that is supposed to finish month ending was no where to be found.I called customer line to know why and they where speaking English
    Please Aritel settle me Ooooh

    Reply
  12. Yusuf taofeek ldowu says:
    October 20, 2020 at 11:50 am

    I was given #looo,but to my surprise this morning fiam ,them remove all

    Reply
  13. donlaycon says:
    October 20, 2020 at 12:32 pm

    My friend how are you.i have not received my own credit

    Reply
  14. Regina says:
    October 20, 2020 at 12:47 pm

    They credit and remove even with the one we bought with our money .they are an u serious fellow and fraudster at that?

    Reply
  15. Nkem Peres says:
    October 20, 2020 at 1:39 pm

    Iam so happy.my airtel line was credited,am so thankful

    Reply
  16. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 1:58 pm

    They removed the airtime they gave me before I could use it.

    Reply
  17. Esan Olatunji says:
    October 20, 2020 at 2:01 pm

    1k was credited to my fone ,but it was immediately cleared off with my previous balance , is this not fraudulent act ?

    Reply
  18. Kara says:
    October 20, 2020 at 2:06 pm

    Airtel, motherfucking lying firm, now everything is been put on Anonymous, thank God Pay- Tv came out plain that they were updating their system. Even concerning that of the banks, Anonymous made it clear, it never did such and wouldn’t.

    Reply
  19. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 2:06 pm

    Pls I need the direct Costner care number, this aitel company are thief’s God go save who go pick the call na swear go follow as I dey talk to am I swear

    Reply
  20. Osadolor Dominic says:
    October 20, 2020 at 2:25 pm

    Airtel was hacked they just lieing.both my air time and theirs I have been wiped away.airtel return my airtime oh

    Reply
  21. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 2:27 pm

    Lie lie talk, airtel are using compensation to cover up that they were hacked by the anonymous group. Yesterday I received 1k free card on both of my Airtel Sim. I used the 1k to purchase data on both the Sim and finished the data that same yesterday, cause I knew anything can happen. When did airtel that doing compensation give away, in This country Nigeria for that matter. Let me even burst y’all bubbles, airtel have started to retrieve their 1k card. If you load any card on the Sim it will be taken until its reaches 1k I believe. I though it’s was a compensation so why are they retrieving it back,abi dey no they do compensation give away again. RUBBISH! omo no long talk, sheybi na their 1k card they Wan collect make I see how dey go collect am after I Don break the Sim. After all mtn na my line.

    Las Las anonymous una do well, thank you. But abeg also help us hack uba na, 2k self go do us. ?

    Reply
  22. Michael Essien says:
    October 20, 2020 at 2:39 pm

    Lie lie talk, airtel are using compensation to cover up that they were hacked by the anonymous group. Yesterday I received 1k free card on both of my Airtel Sim. I used the 1k to purchase data on both the Sim and finished the data that same yesterday, that was 6gb data in total, omo cause anything can happen any time. When did airtel that doing compensation give away, in This country Nigeria for that matter. Let me even burst y’all bubbles, airtel have started to retrieve their 1k. If you load any card on the Sim it will be taken until its reaches 1k I believe. I though it’s was a compensation so why are they retrieving it back,abi dey no they do compensation give away again. RUBBISH. omo no long talk abi na their 1k they Wan collect na, make I see how dey go collect am after I Don break the both Sim. After all mtn na my main line.

    Las Las anonymous una do well, thank you. abeg also hack uba for us na, 2k self go do us. ?

    Reply
  23. Samsindeen says:
    October 20, 2020 at 2:40 pm

    This is trade by bata ldea after credited me with 1200, and everything disappeared with my main money which #70 balance later in the midnight yestarday

    Reply
  24. Imoh Akpabio says:
    October 20, 2020 at 2:55 pm

    The person who wrote this is a born liar from the pit of hell. That site was hacked ,if it wasn’t hacked how come some persons that didn’t use thier 1000 got Thier airtime wiped out and those that got data with Thiers got to pay for it. Why? Stop lying abeg

    Reply
  25. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 3:17 pm

    Bloody lies, they were hacked.

    Reply
  26. Ikechukwu Onuoha says:
    October 20, 2020 at 3:21 pm

    I did not even use it,before I could know it was withdrawn,even what I have on my account went with it.who is deceiving who here.

    Reply
  27. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 3:21 pm

    Lies.

    If it’s a compensation, then why did they remove it.

    Also this; The message from Airtel states, “Dear customer, we apologise for the recent service disruption experienced on October 16. Normal service has been restored and your line will be credited with five minutes of on-net calls and 100MB of data both valid for one day.”, does not in anyway amount to 1,000

    Reply
  28. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 3:28 pm

    Since it wasn’t for all customers,it made me to believe that it was hacked.

    Reply
  29. Annonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 4:55 pm

    It’s a fraudulent act by Airtel. N1,000 appeared on my balance , not like l asked for it or activated it. I had done a N1,500 credit transfer to my Airtel line this afternoon, not only did they deduct the N1,000, they also took more off my credit by deducting a total of N1,024…this telecomm companies have really really been exploiting Nigerians for so long

    Reply
  30. Pascal says:
    October 20, 2020 at 4:55 pm

    I think this is a very big fat lie by Airtel. If they credited their subscribers, why were the same credit and data wiped off by the end of the day? This is very petty by a supposedly responsible organization.

    Reply
  31. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 5:14 pm

    Airtel eleribu

    Reply
  32. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 5:39 pm

    The compensation was a scam. Airtel gave N1000 credit/data today and one greatest surprise within 24 hours the whole things disappeared.it is unfair.

    Reply
  33. Anonymous says:
    October 20, 2020 at 6:18 pm

    Rubbish, where is my own

    Reply
  34. Queenster says:
    October 20, 2020 at 6:56 pm

    Fake they took it back before I could even think of using.

    Reply
  35. hello says:
    October 20, 2020 at 9:03 pm

    Bastards

    Reply
  36. Oliver Onwube says:
    October 21, 2020 at 12:44 am

    This is a big deceit by Airtel. They tricked us all. They credited us and quickly took it back. Another scam. Can’t know why anything Nigeria must involve cheating and deceit.

    Reply
  37. Anonymous says:
    October 21, 2020 at 9:53 am

    Stupid Network they are thieves, I used the 1k to sub before I knew it they collected both my 4.5GB and the 1k sub I did all together. Airtel is a trash company they should return my sub

    Reply
  38. Ndu says:
    October 21, 2020 at 10:58 am

    This is a scam.I bought 500 naira airtime and they credited me with 1524 naira.i could not however subscribe for data as the loading platform was not accessible.before I knew it both the 500 naira airtime and the 1000 free airtime disappeared.Airtel pls reimburse me my 5oo naira.

    Reply
  39. Ibro says:
    October 21, 2020 at 4:39 pm

    They later removed the credit including my oroginal data I bought before the #endsars dash

    Reply
  40. Anonymous says:
    October 21, 2020 at 6:38 pm

    Liars, you were hacked, just admit it,airtel did not send any message informing customers that they will be credited with 1000, if your claim is true why did you deduct the money in less than 24hrs, and why didn’t other customers receive the airtime, why did you also steal from other customers when deducting your stinking 1k.

    Reply
  41. Blue g says:
    October 21, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    I received d 1k airtime and used immediately I also received 1hundred mb but I didn’t used it coz it was already expired

    Reply
  42. Anonymous says:
    October 22, 2020 at 7:34 am

    My line wasn’t credited with any bonus

    Reply
  43. Anonymous says:
    October 22, 2020 at 8:33 am

    So unserious fellows who begged them for free airtime or whatever, my line was equally credited and the next day i found out it was wiped off and my main recharge was inclusive,u pple shld better return back my #151 b4 thunder go visit una

    Reply
  44. Anonymous says:
    October 23, 2020 at 11:12 am

    They lied. The credit was removed later.

    Reply

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