Nigerian Telecommunication giants have once more raised concerns over the piling debts by Nigerian Banks for USSD services. Millions of Nigerians take advantage of the shortcode platform to carry out bank transactions however the telcos have lamented over the non-payments from banks and have now reached a decision on the lingering issue.
The Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) has disclosed in a statement signed by the Chairman of the group, Gbenga Adebayo, and Head of Operations, Gbolahan Awonuga that starting tomorrow, the 15th of March, 2021, banks will be disconnected from the USSD services.
ALTON disclosed that the decision was reached after the banks failed to reach an arrangement that excluded end-users from making those payments as the banks refused to accept responsibility for the charges demanding that Telcos charge the customers directly for the service, but the banks refuse to discontinue or reduce the charges currently incurred by customers, of which the funds should have been paid from.
Read the statement in part below from the group
“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,”
“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.”
“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.
“To minimise the disruption to customers, and with the concurrence of the Honourable Minster of Communications and Digital Economy and the Nigerian Communications Commission, on the huge debt to the Network operators; Mobile Network Operators will disconnect debtorFinancial Service Providers (FSPs) from USSD services, until the huge debt is paid.
“Therefore, our members are initiating a phased process of withdrawal of USSD services, starting with the most significant debtors within the Financial Service Providers (FSPs) effective Monday March 15, 2021.
“While the withdrawal of USSD service is in place, we encourage our subscribers to kindly explore alternative channels with their Banks.”
[…] states that banks will not impose any added charges for using the USSD channels while the outstanding 42 billion Naira estimate which was previously owed by banks for the USSD services will be settled in due […]
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