MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile will be withdrawing USSD services for debtor banks and other financial institutions starting from Monday 15, 2021.
This withdrawal of services, which will be done in phases, became necessary in view of the accumulated debt of N42 billion that had not been paid by the debtor banks in the past eight months, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria representing the telcos said on Friday.
The statement signed by the Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo and Head of Operations, Gbolahan Awonuga, said with the approval the Minster of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, and the Nigerian Communications Commission, the network operators will disconnect debtor banks until the huge debt is paid.
ALTON said Pantami had written to the financial institutions seeking a resolution to the on-going dispute between the banking sector and the telecoms sector over the appropriate methodology to use to charge for USSD services.
“We deeply regret that we have reached a point where the withdrawal of these services has become unavoidable, however, we remain committed to working closely with the relevant Ministries and regulators to resolve this issue as quickly as possible,” the statement said.
READ ALSO: Banks Debt To Telcos For USSD Services Rise To N42 Billion
“It has been more than eight (8) months since the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) issued an updated pricing methodology for USSD services for financial transactions in Nigeria.
“The methodology explicitly restricts Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s) from charging the end user for the services and mandates the banking sector to enter into negotiations to settle outstanding obligations and agree individual pricing mechanisms to be applied going forwards.”
“During this time, Mobile Network Operators (MNO’s) have continued to provide access to USSD infrastructure and our members have continued to pay all Bank charges and fees to access the Banking industries assets and customers, despite the fact that obligations due from banks to telecoms companies for USSD services has reached over Forty-Two Billion (N42B) Naira.”
“ALTON members have continued to provide these services because our primary concern is that the millions of Nigerian customers who access financial services through our USSD infrastructure every day should be able to continue conducting their transactions.
“This was given greater importance when customers’ became further reliant on these services due to COVID movement restrictions.”
The telcos and Nigerian banks have been embroiled in a dispute after MTN informed its subscribers of its intention to charge N4 for 20 seconds of USSD access based on consent by banks since last year.
While the bank executives denied having a knowledge of the direct USSD access charge to customers, telcos insisted that banks agreed to the charges.
The Nigerian Communications Commission waded into the dispute and ordered an immediate suspension of end-user billing for financial transactions though USSD channel by all telecom operators.
