MTN will give prepaid and TopUp customers the option to load airtime or data, even when their balance is zero.
The feature, Xtra Time, works via a USSD code.
While it may be new to MTN customers, rival mobile operators Vodacom and Cell C introduced similar features in 2011 and 2014.
Xtra Time will give users an airtime 'advance', which will be deducted from the airtime balance the next time they recharge.
To see how much of an advance customers qualify for, the number *141*2# should be dialled. The system will credit score them to ascertain their eligibility.
The service cannot be used twice in a row. MTN says customers with unsettled advances are barred from using the service until the previous advance is repaid.
"MTN Xtra Time is a service that ensures customers can always be connected even when they have run out of airtime and do not have the possibility to recharge," says Larry Annetts, MTN SA chief consumer officer.
In March, Vodacom dismissed allegations it infringed the intellectual property of Ndabenhle Business Enterprises over its "Airtime Advance" product.
The company, owned by businessman John Khaba, demanded compensation from the telco, accusing it of misappropriating his idea of Airtime Advance and launching it as its own five years ago.
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