5 Places to Buy Data/Airtime Online in Nigeria

When it comes to buying airtime or data bundles online in Nigeria, there are always concerns whether or not the platform one chooses will be honorable enough to provide the value without hassle.

For the most part, there have been complaints by many network subscribers, complaining about buying airtime online and not getting their airtime or data, while some platforms have resorted to scamming unsuspecting people who are not wary of their play-in-trade.

In this post, we detailed, as much as possible, the best platforms or places to buy airtime or data in Nigeria directly to your phone, whether or not it is MTN, Airtel, Glo, 9mobile, Swift, etc.

5 Platforms to Buy Airtime/Data Bundle in Nigeria

Below are the top five platforms to buy airtime or data bundles in Nigeria:

1. Bank Apps

The primary go-to place other than using a USSD code to buy airtime and data is by using your mobile bank application. All mobile bank applications in Nigeria are equipped with the ability to buy either data or airtime directly from them to your mobile phone, or even buy on behalf of one of your contacts.

This platform is one of the easiest methods to buy airtime or data bundles directly to your phone as long as you use Airtel, Glo, MTN, 9mobile and any other authorized network provider captured.

The best part of this platform is that it is instantaneous and hassle-free. All you need to have at hand is your mobile number and your e-banking PIN which would be required when finalizing your transaction.

Another best part of this platform is that you do not get to use your debit or credit card. Just choose the corresponding options, enter your phone number, desired airtime or data amount, your e-banking PIN and that’s it.

2. Interswitch App

Interswitch is undoubtedly one of the largest, if not the largest payment processing company in Nigeria. It has one of the robust networks in the market and all automated teller machines (ATM) in Nigeria are equipped with Interswitch. You not only get to buy airtime or data with Interswitch, but you can also do much more, such as pay electricity bills, water bills, taxes, donate to certain organizations, access loans, etc.

Although Interswitch has its dedicated website to do the aforementioned and more, we, at Networthium, prefer the mobile app which can easily be downloaded on your app’s market store.

If at all you want to buy airtime or a data bundle, one of the best places to look is using Interswitch.

3. Network Provider App

With each passing day, Nigerians are fast embracing the strength and power of technology. Almost all network providers in Nigeria today have their mobile apps where you can do so much. You can buy your data bundle directly from your ISP app just by inputting your bank debit or credit card in order to finalize your payment.

While this looks cool, I’ll be quick to warn that it is not the best of moves for many reasons. Airtel’s mobile has proven to be unstable and you could get debited without getting value for your money.

I experienced something similar recently and it took 23 days before they could arrive at the conclusion of a refund. If you are not the type to endure stress, this method might not really be a wise move, particularly for Airtel subscribers.

4. Loan Apps

Once upon a time, FINTECH companies were a mirage in Nigeria, but the story has changed over time. With the surge in FINTECH companies providing soft loans over the last five years, their presence has not only eased the situation of things and the difficulty that comes with doing app-related transactions.

Just like bank applications, loan apps in Nigeria are now capable of many things. Beyond borrowing, you can either choose pay for your cable TV subscription, pay other bills or simply buy your airtime or data without hassle.

One pitfall that this brings is that you are using a third party application not authorized by your bank. So you might want to be careful by not over-relying excessively using this platform. However, this is not to say that the platform is not safe.

For a start, you might want to read up the privacy policy of the loan company to see how they handle sensitive information provided by users of their apps.

5. Third-Party Vendors

Third-party vendors are those who act as middlemen to sell airtime or data services but on a smaller scale. An interesting thing worthy of note is that most of these third-party vendors have websites where you can simply visit and buy your data bundle or airtime.

A major advantage these vendors have over the other conventional sellers is that they act as resellers and sell data bundles, particularly, cheaper than the normal rates they are sold for. What this means is that you might be paying lesser for a data package that you would normally buy N5,000.

Not getting carried away, there have been reports of people paying for data bundles without getting them immediately. So before you proceed, do your due diligence to see if the vendor you have chosen to transact with is hassle-free.

Wrapping Up!

Well, those are the go-to places to buy airtime or data online in Nigeria. We promise to periodically update this to keep up to date with trend as more options are introduced.