USSD/N42bn Debt: We don’t owe MTN Nigeria, other Telcos ─Banks

*There is no obligation owed by Nigerian banks to telecom operators, says Herbert Wigwe, Managing Director of Access Bank Plc

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

Against the backdrop of an ongoing dispute between the Nigerian banks and telecommunication firms in Africa’s largest economy over the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) service fees charged on their platforms, the lender have said they are not indebted to the telecom operators.

Mr. Herbert Wigwe, Managing Director of Access Bank Plc, stated that Nigerian banks are not indebted to MTN Nigeria and other telephone companies for using telecommunications platforms to provide payment services, agency report said.

The Access Bank CEO, who was reported to have stated this during an investment call, said: “There is no obligation owed by banks to telecom operators.”

Wigwe stressed that “we have chosen not to make a public statement as it is not appropriate that we find ourselves fighting with telecom operators in public.”

The bank’s Chief, who heads a team of bank CEOs who have been in talks with MTN Nigeria in an attempt to resolve a dispute that led some banks disconnecting the leading telecom firm off their banking platforms recently.

Earlier, MTN Nigeria reportedly slashed a commission charged on airtime purchases through banking channels by almost half to 2.5 percent.

However, the action against MTN was said to be an escalation of a raging trade dispute between lenders and telecom operators in Africa’s largest economy over fees charged on services provided on each other’s platforms.

ConsumerConnect had reported that the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), which is telecom operators through their umbrella union, weeks back had warned of disconnecting banks from providing payment services on telecom platforms until they have paid an estimated N42 billion ($103 million) debt allegedly owed to its members by the end user billing.

However, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy intervened to ward off the ALTON move, and that led to an agreement to charge a fixed amount and settle any debt for past services between the dissenting parties.