Airtel Discloses why it Credited Subscribers with Free N1,000 Airtime

Femi Ashekun/

Airtel Nigeria has disclosed why it credited its subscribers with N1,000 airtime and data yesterday.

In messages sent by the network provider to its subscribers, it informed them that the airtime and free data were compensation for service disruptions on its network on Friday, October 16, 2020.

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.”

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

While many of the subscribers did not know the reason for the unusual gesture, 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.

Similarly, 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