According to information made accessible to The Guardian, the dispute over the N120 billion in USSD bills owing to telcos by deposit money banks (DMBs) is far from being settled.
Banks and telecom operators have been at odds over the debt they have accrued since 2019 as a result of the latter’s failure to pay for the services that rely on communication infrastructure.
Financial transactions like transfers, bill payments, and airtime recharges employ USSD.
According to a source from one of the impacted mobile network providers (MNOs) who was present at the meetings to break the deadlock, as reported by The Guardian: “I am not sure we have arrived at a resolution, but discussions are all going, and parties are looking at all options that confront us.”
The source also stated: “As to whether banks are more disposed towards resolution. The answer is yes, much more than they have ever been. But I think it is work-in-progress. I am hopeful that with the intervention of the Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Folasodun Sonubi and the leadership of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), following the joint advisory that they issued to the two players, I think that if we can follow through, we should be able to have a final resolution.”
According to the source, the parties met at the highest levels, including those of the Bankers’ Committee, the Telecoms Association, and the two regulators, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
After both parties had given their respective facts, he disclosed that an advisory—which has not yet been made public—had been issued at the meeting.
He claims that “We are following the letters of the advisory and hoping that we can have some landing, when we reach a solution, we will as telecoms Industry and the DMBs issue a joint resolution statement. We are not yet there. I can’t say the issues have been resolved, money has not been paid… but there is progress being made on all sides and we hope that this progress will result in a final resolution of the lingering crises.”
According to the source, telecom providers anticipated some traction by the first week of August, “now we are in the middle, what we expected has not happened, but maybe by the end of August, we can say some things have come in or that they will supply. But as I speak to you today, nothing has come in. I cannot reveal the content of the Advisory because of the sensitivity of the matters.”
Despite the fact that no new amount has been recognized as accumulated debt, the source stated that the debt had continued to rise as a result of people’s continuing use of USSD channels. Checks revealed that the banks charge clients N6 for each transaction.
The NCC estimated the total number of mobile roaming minutes at 109,786,336.3 as of December 2022.
Particularly, the mobile carriers’ outgoing and incoming minutes were 41,595,210.26 and 68,191,126.04, respectively.
The highest incoming and outgoing minutes, 51,642,575 and 29,276,904 respectively, were recorded by MTN. Airtel, 9,888,649 outgoing and 4,509,034 incoming roaming minutes; Globacom, 1,520,507 outgoing and 3,295,542 incoming roaming minutes; and 9mobile, 909,150.26 outgoing and 8,743,975 incoming roaming minutes.
