Nine Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) initially marked for disconnection from the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) platform starting today, January 27, 2025, have reportedly settled their outstanding debts.
The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) had approved that banks that are yet to fulfil their debt obligation after the deadline should be disconnected from the USSD platform.
ThisDay reports the banks who made payment were among those owing a combined USSD debt of N160 billion as of November 2024, made payments by the close of business last Friday,
This action prevented telecom operators from cutting off their USSD services a big win in the CBN drive to ensure a cashless economy.
USSD is a platform that allows bank customers to access financial services, such as bill payments, on any mobile phone without needing internet access.
Transactions start when customers dial a USSD code, input their PIN, and complete the process. Banks deduct a fee of N6.98k per successful transaction, which should be remitted to telecom operators.
The CBN data highlights the importance of USSD as it revealed that between January and June 2024, 252.06 million USSD transactions worth N2.19 trillion were recorded.
In 2023, in the same six months, there were 630.6 million transactions valued at N4.84 trillion in the same period of 2023.
The USSD debt controversy started in 2019 when telecom operators introduced USSD codes for banking transactions, under regulatory oversight from the NCC.
As part of the agreement, banks were to remit N6.98 per successful transaction to the telecom operators whose codes were used.
However, the non-remittance led to the accumulation of USSD debt, which reached over N200 billion in October 2024.
Between October and November 2024, several banks paid off their debts, reducing the total to N160 billion.
Nine banks remained non-compliant until last week when they cleared their balances following an NCC order.
By settling their debts banks have averted potential disruptions that could have affected their customers.
Following the debt settlement, Nigerian banks and telecommunication companies will now work to reach an agreement on USSD billing time.
The NCC and CBN stipulate that banks should begin billing customers for USSD transactions after 10 seconds from the start of the transaction.
The 10-second USSD billing time has been a source of disagreement and will now be the next issue to resolve.
TimesNow.com.ng earlier reported that MTN Nigeria reacted to the recent 50% tariff increase approved by the NCC.
The telecommunication giant has now promised its subscribers improved service delivery.
