Nigerian telecommunications companies claim that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has given them permission to cut off banks due to a debt of N120 billion in Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD).
This information was released in a statement on Friday in Lagos that was signed by Mr. Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON).
He claimed that if banks did not pay the loan, mobile network operators (MNOs) would disconnect them.
According to Mr. Adebayo, the consent was given because banks continued to accrue more debt without making the necessary payments, despite efforts by all parties involved to address the issue and avoid any impact on services.
He asserted that members of the public would remember that MNOs and banks had long-running disputes about the best USSD pricing model for financial transactions, the transparency of charges, the method of collection, and who was responsible for paying the unpaid and ongoing service fees owed to the MNOs.
“Due to the inability of MNOs and banks to reach an agreement on the issues, MNOs in 2021 sought to disconnect banks due to the unpaid debts, which stood at N42 billion as at that time.
“However, the Minister of Communication and Digital Economy, Prof. Isa Pantami, intervened and asked the MNOs not to disconnect banks as the action would negatively impact the digital and financial inclusion policy of the federal government.
“Unfortunately, the patriotic intervention of the minister and the NCC have been taken for granted by the banks, as two years after, the banks have failed to sign a final agreement,” he said.
Mr. Adebayo made the point that it was important to keep in mind that the agreement between MNOs and banks regarding the use of USSDs for banking transactions was completely commercial in nature, and that MNOs were free to discontinue the services if the deal wasn’t beneficial for them.
He pointed out that over the years, MNOs had spent billions of naira improving their systems to meet the USSD requirements of banks.
In addition to enabling banks to save costs by needing fewer locations to service their expanding customer base, Mr. Adebayo said that this has increased access to financial services for Nigerians as a whole.
He claimed that MNOs were regrettably not being paid for their services, and that the debt, which was N42 billion in 2021, had now increased to over.
“It is obvious that the level of debt is unsustainable given the time or value of the huge cost of the continuous upgrade, operation of the systems and infrastructure dedicated to supporting USSD transactions of banks.
“In view of the foregoing, unless banks meet their debt obligations, MNOs will disconnect all banks indebted to them for USSD services rendered,” Mr Adebayo said.
