Telecom Firms To Ban Banks’ USSD Code Services From Working (See Why)

The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), has announced that its members will on Monday withdraw their Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (Banks USSD) services to financial institutions.

ALTON revealed that they will stop providing their services for Nigerian financial institutions due to their gigantic debt.

According to a report from the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), this disclosure is contained in a statement issued by ALTON and signed by its Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo and its Head of Operations, Gbolahan Awonuga on Friday, March 12, 2021.

The association disclosed that after reaching an accord with the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), it would disconnect the Financial Service Providers (FSPs) from USSD services until the huge debt is cleared.

Telecom Firms To Ban Banks’ USSD Code Services From Working (See Why)

Recall that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Issa Pantami, had issued a letter to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), seeking a resolution of the on-going dispute between the banking sector and the telecoms sector over appropriate methodology to use to charge for USSD services.

The Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Professor Umar Danbatta, however, noted while speaking at an event admitted that deposit money banks were owing telecommunication companies N42 billion for services provided by the mobile network operators through the USSD.

Meanwhile, ALTON pointed out that its members have resolved to undertake a phased process of withdrawal of USSD services, starting with the most significant debtors within the FSPs with effect from March 15.

ALTON said that it recognized its great importance as its members had continued to provide USSD services because millions of Nigerian customers usually have access to financial services through USSD infrastructure on a daily basis and had become reliant on these services due to the COVID-19 movement restrictions.

The ALTON in its statement said, “Unfortunately, due to huge indebtedness and the possibility to agree on a structure for these payments without asking end-users to pay, the government has been forced to intervene.

“The government intervened to ensure that a sustainable cost-sharing solution is agreed on so that consumers do not get affected in the long-term.’’

It said that members deeply regret reaching a point where the withdrawal of these services had become unavoidable and expressed its commitment to working closely with the relevant ministries and regulators to resolve the issue as quickly as possible to minimise the disruption to customers.

The statement, however, encouraged subscribers to explore alternative channels with their banks, while the withdrawal of USSD service was in place.