Banks agree to urgent payment of N42bn USSD debt to MNOs
Financial institutions in Nigeria have agreed to urgently pay the N42 billion debts they owe mobile telephone operators for using USSD infrastructures of the telcos for financial services.
The telcos had threatened to shut down the services they offer to banks and other financial institutions if the debt owed them worth N42 billion was not paid urgently.
However, Isa Pantami, the minister of communications and digital economy, was swift to avert the major financial service breakdown as he ordered the suspension of the planned USSD service withdrawal by operators and called for a meeting.
It was gathered that the meeting lasted into the late hours of yesterday, Monday March 15, and was attended by the representatives of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), officials of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), representatives of banks and the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ALTON) as well as key officials of the ministry.
At the end of the meeting, the banks have agreed to pay the debts urgently but in tranches, Technology Mirror reported.
According to a source, who reportedly talked to the platform in a state of anonymity, said the USSD cost which the banks have been collecting from their customers as alert charge but not remitted to the Telecos and later amounted to N42 billion will be paid over a period of time.
The source said that the decision was taken in the interest of Nigeria and that ALTON has agreed to call off the planned suspension.
Asked to give more detail on the outcomes of the meeting, head of Operation at ALTON, Mr Awonuga Gbolahan told Business Metrics that Nigerian Communication Commission (NCC) would soon release a statement to the press detailing discussions and resolutions at the meeting.
