Anastasia Okechukwu
Nigerian telecommunications companies are set to disconnect bank customers from using the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data services due to the N120bn debt owed to the operators.
The operators under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) said that with the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) approval, banks will be disconnected if they fail to pay up.
This is disclosed in a statement by the ALTON and signed by its chairman, Gbenga Adebayo and made available to newsmen.(PUNCH Report)
According to the statement, “The approval was granted because despite multiparty stakeholder efforts to resolve the situation and prevent any impact on services, led by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami and including the Nigerian Communications Commission, the Central Bank of Nigeria, along with Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and disconnect Deposit Money Banks (DMBs), the DMBs have continued to incur greater and greater debt, without making the commensurate payments. Every time some progress is made, the DMBs come up with reasons to take stakeholders several steps back, in this matter.
“Members of the public will recall that MNOs and DMBs have had protracted disagreements concerning the appropriate USSD pricing model for financial transactions, transparency of charges, mode of collection and liability for payment of the outstanding and continuous service fees due to the MNOs, which currently stands at over N120 billion,” Adebayo said.
The statement added that due to the inability of MNOs and DMBs to reach an agreement on the issues, MNOs in 2021 sought to disconnect DMBs due to the unpaid debts which stood at N42 billion as at that time.
However, interventions from Pantami dissuaded the MNOs as the action would negatively impact the Digital and Financial Inclusion policy of the Federal Government.
“The Nigerian Communications Commission, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria and Deposit Money Banks represented by the Chairman, Body of Bank CEOs subsequently met on 15 March 2021 to discuss indebtedness of DMBs to MNOs for USSD services. The CBN and NCC issued a joint press statement on the agreement reached by all stakeholders.
He explained that the minister and the NCC have made several efforts to get the banks to show good faith and sign an agreement, in the national interest, based on the resolutions reached at that meeting, but unfortunately, the patriotic intervention of the minister and the NCC have been taken for granted by the DMBs, as two years after, the banks have failed to sign a final agreement.
Adebayo noted that the contract between MNOs and DMBs on the use of USSDs for banking transactions was strictly commercial and that MNOs were at liberty to withdraw the services if it was established that the transaction is unprofitable to them.
“MNOs have invested billions of naira in expanding their systems to accommodate the USSD needs of DMBs over the years. This has resulted in more Nigerians having access to banking services in addition to enabling banks to trim down costs by requiring less branches to service their growing customers. Unfortunately, MNOs are not getting paid for their services and the debt that stood at N42 billion in 2021 has now risen to over N120 billion.
“It is obvious that the level of debt is unsustainable given the time/value of the huge cost of the continuous upgrade and operation of the systems and infrastructure dedicated to supporting USSD transactions of DMBs,” Adebayo said.