Commercial banks and telecommunications operators in Nigeria have resolved a four-year dispute over unpaid Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) fees, with nearly “N300 billion” in outstanding debt now fully cleared.
Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, announced the resolution on Thursday during a visit to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Adebayo said the debt, which accumulated over four years, had posed a systemic risk to the telecoms and digital financial ecosystem.
He also appreciated Aminu Maida, the executive vice-chairman of NCC, for his immense support in seeing the full payment of the debt.
“When Dr Maida assumed office, he inherited significant industry challenges,” Adebayo said.
“One of the most difficult was the USSD debt crisis, a debt burden that grew over four years to nearly N300 billion. It had become a systemic risk to our sector and the digital financial ecosystem.”
“Through firm leadership, structured engagement, and decisive coordination, Dr Maida and his team resolved this issue.
“Today, there is no outstanding USSD debt. The ecosystem has fully migrated to end-user billing. What was once a looming crisis has been converted into a sustainable framework.”
The dispute between banks and telecom operators over unpaid USSD fees dates back several years, with telecoms operators repeatedly threatening to withdraw services over mounting debts.
In 2019, telcos said they could no longer provide USSD services for free and proposed to take a cut of N4.50k per 20 seconds from the charges paid by customers to the banks.
However, the banks kicked against it, alleging that it would raise costs by 450 percent.
