Telecos Threaten To Withdraw USSD Services From Banks

Category: Business News

 

Telecommunications operators in Nigeria may soon withdraw their service support to the banks as the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) debt rises to N80 billion.

The Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo disclosed this in Lagos while speaking with media at the NITRA ICT Growth Conference 2.0 organised by the Nigeria Information Technology Reporters’ Association.

Adebayo stated that the matter has remained unaddressed and the USSD debt has now increased to N80 Billion.

Recall, that the Nigerian Communications Commission last year said a meeting was convened to resolve the N42 billion USSD debt between the telecom operators and the banks in the country.

USSD is a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) protocol that is used to send text messages. This is similar to Short Message Service (SMS) but in the banking industry, allows users without a smartphone or data and internet connection to do mobile banking through the use of codes. USSD-based mobile banking can be used for fund transfers, checking account balances, and generating bank statements, among other uses.