Giant telecom company MTN Uganda has introduced MTN Xtra Time,  a service that lets you load airtime now and pay later. If an MTN customer runs out of airtime, they can just dial *146# and options of (500,1000,1,500) will be availed for you to choose from. The next time the subscriber recharges their account, the credit facility will be knocked off from the airtime.

"At MTN we would like to make communication as convenient as possible and by allowing our customers to continue talking with MTN Xtra Time, this service provides both convenience as well as support during emergency situations" said Ernst Fonternel, MTN Chief Marketing Officer.

The service is ideal in situations where one has no access to a card voucher or has insufficient funds on their mobile money account. To qualify for the service, a subscriber must have at least shs240 on their account and must have recharged their account with at least 10,000/- per month for the last six months.

To access the highest airtime of 1,500/- a subscriber must have recharged their account with 15,000/- per month for the last one year. But like all loans do attract some form of interest so is this one which comes with a 10%fee, though it's deducted from the airtime loan.