Airtime Deductions for Dropped Calls: Senate Probe and 622 Fix

No refund has been ordered. The Senate voted on 11 November 2026 to investigate airtime deductions for calls that failed, dropped or ended early. That's all that passed.

Nothing changes on your line yet. The old route still works: find where your airtime went, complain to your network, and take it to the NCC on 622 if they won't fix it.

What the Senate agreed on airtime deductions, and what it didn't

Senate Chief Whip Mohammed Tahir Monguno (APC, Borno North) moved the motion. It covers MTN, Airtel, Glo and T2.

You'll recognise the complaints. A call never connects, yet you pay for it. Or you're halfway through a chat with your mum when the line cuts, you redial twice, and every attempt takes another bite out of your balance. Senators raised inflated charges and slow data too, plus calls where nobody can hear anybody. Subscribers sent the NCC 413,587 complaints in the first half of this year.

Senator Aliyu Ikra Bilbis chairs the Committee on Communications. His committee now has four weeks to work out what subscribers have lost and suggest new laws or rules, so expect its report around 9 December. If senators aren't satisfied, the full Senate will summon Communications Minister Bosun Tijani, the head of the NCC and every network.

Refunds came up in the debate, but only an investigation passed, so any payback for dropped calls would need new rules that can only come after the committee's report lands.

Why MTN keeps deducting your airtime, and how to stop it

Often the missing money has nothing to do with dropped calls. You top up on Monday morning, make one short call, and by evening half the airtime is gone.

Usually the culprit is a paid extra that networks call a value-added service (VAS). Once you're subscribed, it keeps charging you until you cancel it. Caller tunes and alerts cause most of these airtime deductions. Auto-renewal is sneakier, because when your data bundle expires it quietly buys the same bundle again from your airtime, and you only notice when the balance looks wrong.

Borrowed airtime counts too, because XtraTime on MTN (*303#) comes straight out of your next recharge, and browsing after your bundle runs out eats your main balance.

On Airtel, Glo or T2, ask customer care to list the paid services on your line. MTN lets you do it yourself, and the code to stop airtime deduction there is *305#:

1. Dial *310# to see your airtime balance.
2. Dial *305# and choose "Active Services" to see every paid service on your line.
3. Cancel the ones you don't want, one at a time or with "Cancel All", then dial *305# again to confirm they're gone.
4. Open the myMTN app and tap "Manage Subscription" to switch off data auto-renewal.

Our page of MTN USSD codes for balance and subscriptions keeps the other codes in one place.

A dropped call is easy to test. Open your call log, note how long the call lasted, and compare it with the charge in the network's SMS or in the app. With per-second billing you should pay only for the seconds you were connected, so a charge on a call that never rang, or one for longer than you talked, gives it away. Write down the date, the time and the number you dialled. That's your evidence.

How to get wrongly charged airtime back: your network, then 622

Go in this order on any network. The NCC only takes a complaint after your network has had its chance to fix it.

1. Contact your network's customer care, describe the deduction with its date and time, and save the ticket number they give you.
2. If nothing changes, call the NCC on 622, its toll-free line, and quote that ticket number.
3. If you'd rather type than talk, file the same complaint on the NCC consumer portal at consumer.ncc.gov.ng.

Hold on to that ticket number.

To qualify, your line needs at least one paid call, SMS or data session in the affected area during that period. You don't apply. Your credit depends on how much you used the line and how badly the network performed in your area, so there's nothing to appeal.

While this drags on and your balance runs low, you can buy MTN airtime on AidaPay with 1.8% cashback. A ₦1,000 top-up returns ₦18, at prices as at 12 November 2026. Clear out *305# first. Otherwise the new airtime just feeds the same caller tune.

Put 9 December in your calendar.

Until the committee reports, cancel what you don't use, keep every ticket number, and call 622 whenever your network won't help.

Frequently asked questions

Published 12 November 2026. Prices and codes change - if you spot one that has moved, tell us and we will fix it.