Telecommunications operators in Nigeria, MTN Nigeria, Airtel, Globacom, and 9Mobile, have warned that they may withdraw network support for banks’ Unstructured Supplementary Services Data operations, following what they described as deliberate misinformation about how transaction fees are deducted.
USSD, often used for bank transfers via short codes on mobile phones, became the subject of controversy after a recent notice from banks suggested a change in the billing model based on a supposed directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission.
On Monday, banks informed their customers that the NCC had directed them to halt deductions for USSD services from bank accounts, stating that mobile network operators would now deduct the charges directly from users’ airtime.
The notice read in part, “In line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), please be informed that effective June 3, 2025, charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from your bank account.
“Going forward, these charges will be deducted directly from your mobile airtime balance in accordance with the NCC’s End-User Billing (EUB) model.
“Under this new billing structure, each USSD session will attract a charge of ₦6.98 per 120 seconds, which will be billed by your mobile network operator.
“You will receive a consent prompt at the start of each session, and airtime will only be deducted upon your confirmation and availability of the bank to fulfil this service.
“If you do not wish to continue using USSD banking under this new model, you may choose to discontinue use of the USSD channel.”
However, this announcement sparked a swift backlash from the telecom operators, who, under the umbrella body of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria, accused the banks of distorting facts for selfish motives.
Chairman of ALTON, Engr. Gbenga Adebayo, told Vanguard, “I don’t understand why the banks are twisting agreements and distorting information just to favour their selfish interests. In the first place, the information wasn’t a directive from the NCC but a joint regulatory agreement between the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN witnessed by the telcos and the banks. The agreement was that if the banks finally cleared all USSD debts owed to the telcos by June 2, 2025, they are free to migrate to the end-user billing method, so long as the model of migration is transparent and agreed upon by the telcos.
“The reason for that clause was because the telcos insisted that the process of migration is such that will not allow a customer to be billed twice; in other words, that a subscriber would not have his airtime deducted and also have his or her money deducted for same services from his or her bank account.”
Adebayo further revealed that while some banks have settled their debts, the majority are yet to do so, making the implementation of the new billing method premature.
“As we speak, some of the banks have cleared their debts, but the majority are yet to do so. So, even if all the modalities of migrating to end-user billing have been perfectly carried out, the implementation cannot even begin because the banks are yet to clear the USSD debt owed to the telcos.”
ALTON has now warned that if banks continue to ignore the terms of the agreement, telcos may cut off support for USSD services entirely.
“Our position now is that if that is the way the banks want to treat the agreement, we may withdraw support for their USSD services. It is not a must-have. They can do without it. But, they should clear the debts as agreed,” Adebayo said.
