Banks Settle Substantial Debt to Keep away from USSD Service Disconnection
Nigeria’s telecom operators have saved Unstructured Supplementary Service Information (USSD) providers energetic as banks make important progress in repaying their excellent money owed, stopping a possible disruption that might have impacted hundreds of thousands of customers.
The banks, which have been susceptible to disconnection because of a N160bn debt, have made substantial progress in clearing their liabilities, making certain continued entry to the USSD platform—very important for patrons with out web entry.
In a January 15, 2024, discover, the Nigerian Communications Fee (NCC) warned that 9 banks could be lower off from USSD providers by January 27 in the event that they didn’t clear money owed accrued since 2019. Nevertheless, the banks acted shortly to resolve the difficulty, averting service disruptions.
Chairman of the Affiliation of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, confirmed at a CEO discussion board in Lagos that the matter had been de-escalated.
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“The matter has been de-escalated. Cash has been paid, and we’re making progress because of the regulators,” he mentioned.
The 9 banks that might have been affected by the NCC’s disconnection discover embody Constancy Financial institution Plc, First Metropolis Monument Financial institution, Jaiz Financial institution Plc, Polaris Financial institution Restricted, Sterling Financial institution Restricted, United Financial institution for Africa Plc, Unity Financial institution Plc, Wema Financial institution Plc, and Zenith Financial institution Plc.
The dispute started in 2019 when banks began incurring costs for utilizing USSD providers offered by telecom corporations. Nevertheless, many banks struggled to settle the costs, inflicting the debt to build up.
This enforcement is a part of the primary section of a structured fee plan outlined in a December 20, 2024 memo from the NCC and the Central Financial institution of Nigeria.
The memo particulars a three-phase fee obligation for banks to settle the N250bn debt, with particular deadlines for every section.
The primary section requires banks to settle 60 per cent of all excellent pre-API invoices by January 2, 2025.
The second section mandates the total fee of all pre-API invoices by July 2, 2025. Lastly, the third section requires banks to settle 85 per cent of post-API invoices by December 31, 2025.
