Banks fully paid N300b USSD debt — Telcos

Telecom operators have disclosed that the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have completed the entire remaining Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) debts. This is even as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said with the debt cleared, the focus would now fully shift toward broadband expansion and ensuring the sustainability of the digital economy. The mobile telecom […]

Telecom operators have disclosed that the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have completed the entire remaining Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) debts.

This is even as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) said with the debt cleared, the focus would now fully shift toward broadband expansion and ensuring the sustainability of the digital economy.

The mobile telecom operators under the aegis, Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), said no bank is currently indebted to them.

ALTON Chairman, Engr Gbenga Adebayo, who disclosed this during a visit to the Chairman of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Idris Olorunnimbe, in Lagos on Thursday, said about N300 billion has now been paid fully.

Adebayo appreciated the Executive Vice Chairman of NCC, Dr Aminu Maida, for his immense support in seeing the debt fully paid. 

The ALTON chairman said the sector has migrated to End-User-Billing system to ensure subscribers are billed accordingly and charges are directed to the appropriate channels.

He said telcos now receive the USSD charge directly, not from the banks. 

Daily Trust reports that for about five years, the telecom operators battled to recover the about N300 billion USSD debts from the banks, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and NCC intervened two years ago with new directives that ensured the payments were made.