The telecom operators in Nigeria, including MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Globacom and 9Mobile have threatened to withdraw network support for banks’ Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD), following what they described as gross misinformation of subscribers on the mode of deduction for transaction fees.
USSD, commonly known as ‘bank transfers’, is done through short codes on mobile phones.
Yesterday, the banks issued a notice to their customers that the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed them to stop deducting charges for USSD transactions directly from customers’ accounts, and that telecoms will now deduct charges from users’ mobile airtime.
The notice from the banks read in part: ‘In line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), please be informed that effective 3 June 2025, charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from your bank account.
‘Going forward, these charges will be deducted directly from your mobile airtime balance in accordance with the NCC’s End-User Billing (EUB) model.
‘Under this new billing structure, each USSD session will attract a charge of ?6.98 per 120 seconds, which will be billed by your mobile network operator.
‘You will receive a consent prompt at the start of each session, and airtime will only be deducted upon your confirmation and availability of the bank to fulfil this service.
‘If you do not wish to continue using USSD banking under this new model, you may choose to discontinue use of the USSD channel’.
In a swift reaction, the telcos under their umbrella body, the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) said the banks’ notice is a gross misinformation deliberately hatched to suit their selfish interests. Hence they threatened to withdraw network support to the banks’ USSD services.
Chairman of ALTON Engr Gbenga Adebayo told Vanguard: ‘I don’t understand why the banks are twisting agreements and distorting information just to favour their selfish interests. In the first place, the information wasn’t a directive from the NCC but a joint regulatory agreement between the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) witnessed by the telcos and the banks. The agreement was that if the banks finally cleared all USSD debts owed to the telcos by 2 June 2025, they are free to migrate to the end-user billing method, so long as the model of migration is transparent and agreed upon by the telcos.
‘The reason for that clause was because the telcos insisted that the process of migration is such that will not allow a customer to be billed twice; in other words, that a subscriber would not have his airtime deducted and also have his or her money deducted for same services from his or her bank account.
‘As we speak, some of the banks have cleared their debts, but the majority are yet to do so. So, even if all the modalities of migrating to end-user billing have been perfectly carried out, the implementation cannot even begin because the banks are yet to clear the USSD debt owed to the telcos.
‘Our position now is that if that is the way the banks want to treat the agreement, we may withdraw support for their USSD services. It is not a must-have. They can do without it. But, they should clear the debts as agreed’, he added.
