Indebtedness: Nigerian Telcos to withdraw banks’ USSD services from March 15 ─ALTON

*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 had to intervene ─Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

As a result of the financial institutions’ alleged huge indebtedness, telecom firms have decided to withdraw their Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services to Nigerian banks with effect from Monday, March 15, 2021.

The Telcos under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecommunication Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) disclosed this in a statement by Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman, and Gbolahan Awonuga, ALTON’s Head of Operations, Friday, March 12.

The statement noted the professional body has announced the members would withdraw the USSD services to financial institutions as a result of massive accumulated debt.

Earlier, Dr Isa Ali Pantami, Honourable Minister for Communications and Digital Economy, had issued a letter to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), seeking a resolution of the ongoing dispute between the banking sector and Telcos over appropriate methodology to apply to charge for USSD services.

Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman/Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NCC, at an event also acknowledged that deposit money banks in Nigeria are owing telecom companies N42 billion for the Telcos’ USSD services to the financial institutions.

After reaching an agreement with the Minister for Communications and Digital Economy and Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), nonetheless, ALTON would disconnect the Financial Service Providers (FSPs) from USSD services until the huge debt is paid, said the statement.

The Association stressed 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 Monday.

The statement, however, noted ALTON said that it recognised its great importance as members have continued to provide USSD services because millions of Nigerian consumers 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.

“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,’’ stated the Association.

ALTON as well stated that members deeply regret reaching a point where the withdrawal of these services has become unavoidable.

It expressed its commitment to working closely with the relevant government ministries and industry regulators to resolve the issue as quickly as possible to minimise the disruption to customers.

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