Tag: USSD

  • Telcom Operators Threaten to Cut Off Banks’ USSD Over N80 billion Debt

    Telcom Operators Threaten to Cut Off Banks’ USSD Over N80 billion Debt

    The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) says it might be forced to stop Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services because banks have failed to pay for services rendered.

    The debt has now risen to N80 billion from N42 billion earlier this year, said ALTON president Gbenga Adebayo during an ICT growth conference on Thursday in Lagos.

    Mr Adebayo noted that in spite of the government’s intervention in the matter, many banks were not cooperating as regards paying their debt.

    “Some banks are responding while others are not. We are nearing that time when we have no choice but to discontinue the provision of services to banks.

    “I think it is dishonourable that our colleagues in that sector know that they have an obligation to service providers and are shying away from it.

    “Banks deduct charges from their customers but refuse to pay telecom operators. You don’t expect us to keep rendering services, when you don’t pay,” the ALTON president said.

    He added that the irony of the situation was that if it was the other way round, you could not owe the bank a cent.

    The telecommunication operators had threatened to withdraw their USSD services to financial institutions from March 15, 2021 due to the N42 billion accumulated debt.

    However, following intervention by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC), the planned action was shelved.

    Both parties (the telcos and the banks) went into a meeting with the federal government representatives.

    As a fallout of the meeting, the CBN and NCC announced the introduction of N6.98 per transaction as new charges for customers using the USSD services with effect from March 16, 2021. 

  • CBN Imposes ₦6.98 Charge For USSD Transactions

    CBN Imposes ₦6.98 Charge For USSD Transactions

    The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has imposed ₦6.98 service charge on Nigerians for all USSD transactions.

    Customers will pay a flat fee of N6.98 per transaction every time they use USSD services from March 16, a statement jointly signed by the apex bank and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said.

    The deal was part of an agreement reached with banks following a disagreement between banks and telecom firms over USSD and other text message transaction requests.

    “Effective March 16, 2021, USSD services for financial transactions conducted at DMBs (Deposit Money Banks) and all CBN-licensed institutions will be charged at a flat fee of N6.98 per transaction,” the statement partly read.

    “This replaces the current per session billing structure, ensuring a much cheaper average cost for customers to enhance financial inclusion. This approach is transparent and will ensure the amount remains the same, regardless of the number of sessions per transaction.

    “To promote transparency in its administration, the new USSD charges will be collected on behalf of MNOs (Mobile Network Operators) directly from customers’ bank accounts. Banks shall not impose additional charges on customers for us of the USSD channel.”

    The charges, the CBN noted, were part of the agreements after banks and telecommunication operators met on Monday to discuss the ₦42bn debt owed mobile operators by banks.

    The Federal Government had last week asked telecommunication operators to put on hold, their impending suspension of USSD services over the debt owed by banks.

    This comes amid an increase in Nigeria’s unemployment rate from 27.1% to 33.3% in the fourth quarter of 2020.

    In a report released on Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said the figure is 6.1% higher when compared to the 27.1% recorded in the second quarter last year.

    “The number of persons in the economically active or working-age population (15 – 64 years of age) during the reference period of the survey, Q4, 2020 was 122,049,400. This is 4.3% higher than the figure recorded In Q2, 2020, which was 116.871, 186, ” NBS said.

  • Before yesterday, we were charging for bank transactions with USSD, but not again – Airtel

    Before yesterday, we were charging for bank transactions with USSD, but not again – Airtel

    By Jennifer Y Omiloli

    Airtel Nigeria has discontinued the charges it started barely 24 hours ago.

    The telecommunication company had billed its customers N5 for every 20 seconds spent while carrying out a USSD bank transaction.

    Daybreak.ng noticed that Airtel customers can now make transactions free of charge, using bank USSD.

    It was reported on Wednesday that Airtel Nigeria had hitherto been charging its customers for using bank USSD, despite the directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that no telecommunication company should charge customers for using bank USSD.

    It was learnt that Airtel had on Wednesday billed a customer (name withheld) N15 for carrying out a transaction using the Wema Bank *945#.

    The organisation seems to have bowed to pressure from the communication ministry and public outcry that greeted the report as it has stopped charging customers for making transactions with bank codes.

    On Friday morning, daybreak.ng learnt that the service provider did not deduct from their airtime when they made use of USSD for bank transactions.

    Confirming the new development, a customer care agent said: “Before now, we charged N4.89K for USSD bank transactions, but this has been discontinued since yesterday. If you experience it after yesterday, please call us back. Before yesterday, we were charging for bank transactions with USSD, but not again.”

    Meanwhile, the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, had directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to sanction mobile network operators (MNOs) making deductions for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services from subscribers.

  • I directed the new USSD charges immediate suspension – Dr. Isa Pantami

    I directed the new USSD charges immediate suspension – Dr. Isa Pantami

    By Jennifer Y Omiloli

    The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Pantami has directed the immediate suspension of the new USSD tariff.

    The minister made this disclosure on the ministry’s official twitter handle.

    Reacting to the proposed USSD charges, the minister said there is no justification for the new tariff.

    Dr. Pantami went further to take action by directing its immediate suspension and giving a stern warning to telecom operators, stating that the ministry will not fail to appropriately sanction violators of the directive.

    “After receiving briefing about the proposed USSD charges, I realized there was no justification for the new tariff, consequently, I directed it’s immediate suspension, any telecom operator that violates this directive would be sanctioned appropriately” the minister said.