The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says it has ordered telecommunications companies to disconnect the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes assigned to nine financial institutions due to unpaid debts.
This was made known in a public notice signed by NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Mr Reuben Muoka, on Wednesday.
According to the commission, the affected banks must settle their outstanding debts by Jan. 27, 2025 or risk losing access to their USSD codes.
The NCC noted that the codes, which are essential for enabling mobile banking services, could be reassigned to other applicants if the debts remained unresolved.
The commission revealed that on Tuesday, nine out of 18 financial institutions had not complied with regulatory directives.
“While other banks have cleared their debts, the total amount initially owed by the financial institutions were reported to exceed N200 billion,” it said.
According to the NCC, some of the unpaid invoices have remained unpaid since 2020, indicating a prolonged financial dispute between the banks and telecom operators.
The notice read: “By the information made available to the commission as at close of business on Jan. 14, 2025, out of a total of 18 financial institutions, nine institutions failed to comply significantly with the directives in the Second Joint Circular of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the commission.
“The circular is dated Dec. 20, 2024, and is for the settlement of outstanding invoices due to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), some since 2020,” it said.
The NCC noted that the banks’ failure to comply with the CBN-NCC joint circular also meant that they are unable to meet the good standing requirements for the renewal of the USSD codes assigned to them by the commission.
“In fulfilment of its consumer protection mandate, the commission wishes to inform consumers that they may be unable to access the USSD platform of the affected financial institutions from Jan. 27, 2025,” the notice said.
The NCC emphasised that the financial institutions had been duly notified of the need for immediate compliance and warned that consumers may face service disruptions, if the issues remained unresolved.
This development highlights ongoing tensions between telecommunications companies and financial institutions over unpaid USSD-related debts, a challenge that has persisted for years.
Meanwhile, data from the CBN revealed that 252.06 million transactions worth N2.19 trillion were conducted via USSD between January and June 2024.
This represents a significant growth compared to 2023 when 630.6 million transactions valued at N4.84 trillion were completed using USSD codes.
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