Banks owe telcos over ₦100 billion in USSD fees

Nigerian telcos reveal the money owed by Deposit Money Banks (DMB) from the use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) has risen to over ₦100 billion.

As of November last year, this amount was pegged at ₦80 billion and the telcos were set for a showdown with the deposit money banks over the accumulated debt.

The increase in the banks’ accumulated debt was confirmed by the Head of Operations of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria, (ALTON) Gbolahan Awonuga.

According to a report by The PUNCH, Awonuga revealed that the USSD debts had grown from ₦80 billion as of November 2022, to over ₦100 billion In April 2023. As of March 2022, the accumulated debt stood at ₦42 billion, an amount which has steadily grown over the months to hit over ₦100 billion as revealed by the ALTON boss.

The deposit money banks and telcos have scheduled to meet and find common ground to resolve the impending crisis in the sector.

The issue of these unremitted funds has lingered for a while as the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) last year, stated that telcos may be forced to shut down USSD services thus ending the banks' access to the service.

The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Danbatta, had last year, confirmed the commission’s knowledge of the development.

Danbatta however, had stated that the NCC was working hard to address the concern but also agreed that the amount owed the telcos was enough to disrupt their activities and also negatively affect their investments.

A source also confirmed to The Punch that the recovery process for the accumulated funds was being disrupted by some of the DMBs.

The source further hinted that the telcos were having a difficult time making the banks pay up as they allegedly had the backing of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).