The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has directed
deposit money banks (DMBs) to stop deducting charges for unstructured
supplementary service data (USSD) transactions directly from customers’
accounts.
The charges will now be deducted from users’ mobile airtime,
according to an email from the United Bank for Africa (UBA) to customers on
Tuesday.
The UBA said the directive takes effect from June 3 (today).
“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,” the
statement reads.
“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.”
The UBA said customers can continue using other digital
banking options and internet banking platform for convenience.
The latest directive may be another move by the commission
to address the historical USSD payment conflict between mobile network
operators (MNOs) and commercial banks.
In December 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the
NCC directed mobile network operators (MNOs) and DMBs to resolve the
long-standing N250 billion USSD debt.
Following threats by telcos to withdraw services over the
debt accumulated by banks, the NCC, in January, threatened to suspend the USSD
service and publish a list of banks still owing telcos.
On January 15, the regulator directed telcos to disconnect
the USSD codes assigned to nine banks by January 27 due to unpaid debts.
On February 28, MTN Nigeria said it received N32 billion —
out of N72 billion — from banks as part of payment for the USSD debt.
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