USSD debt: Telcos threaten to withdraw service, say banks owing N200bn

The Association of Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has urged banks to prioritise the payment of their unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) debt.

Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of ALTON, said this during the first telecoms stakeholders’ meeting with Aminu Maid, executive vice-chairman (EVC) of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in Lagos.

According to Adebayo, the debts owned by banks had increased to N200 billion.

In September, Umar Danbatta, the former executive vice-chairman of NCC said the debt was N120 billion.

He said although there had been talks on the issue, no considerable action was taken on the part of the banks.

Adebayo said the debt must be paid in total, noting that “telcos would not hesitate to block debtor banks from accessing the service anytime soon”.

“In spite of all appeals, meetings and interventions by the ministry of communications, innovation and digital economy, Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), and NCC, mainly during the last administration, the banks have kept mute over payment,” he said.

“If operators had to shut down their services, bank customers would no longer be able to carry out transactions such as fund transfers through shortcodes, check bank details and account balances, among others, through their mobile phones.”

The chairman added that the value of the debt would keep rising based on the foreign exchange challenges in the country.

Adebayo said the matter needed to be resolved as fast as possible to avoid the collapse of the sector, adding that the debt was not allowing operators to further expand services.

Deposit money banks (DMO) and telecom operators have been at odds since 2019 over the non-remittance of USSD fees.

In 2019, telcos said they could no longer provide the services for free and proposed to take a cut of N4.50k per 20 seconds from the charges paid by customers to the banks.

However, the banks kicked against it, alleging that it would raise costs by 450 percent.

On March 12, 2021, telecom operators said they would suspend the USSD service over N42 billion accumulated debt by banks — a move halted by Isa Pantami, former minister of communications and digital economy.

Mobile network operators (MNOs) and deposit money banks (DMBs) eventually agreed on March 16, 2021, to adjust the charge on customers to N6.98 for each USSD transaction.