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It was in October 2019 that Nigerian consumers first became aware of the dispute between Nigerian banks and telco providers over who pays for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services customers enjoyed. This must-have sounded strange to the customers seeing as they were already being charged for the service.
The Association of Licensed Telecommunications of Nigeria (ALTON) had complained about the undue silence of key stakeholders in resolving the crisis of the USSD service between the banks and the telcos in Nigeria and threatened then to shut down the platforms if a consensus was not reached.
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ALTON Chairman, Engr Gbenga Adebayo pointed out that contrary to popular beliefs that USSD cost is a sunk cost as championed by the CBN, the USSD is an infrastructure which the network operators had invested much into, and so could not offer it free to the banks.
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The telco had advised subscribers to seek alternative means of recharging their phones.
“Dear Customer, our bank recharge channels are currently unavailable. Kindly recharge using physical cards. We apologise for the inconvenience. Thank you,” one message read.
Another message read: “Please be informed that some of MyCustomers may not be able to purchase airtime and data recharges via banks including MOD and myMTN App.
“Please pacify MyCustomers and educate them to use MTNTopit, MoMo channels, as well as the debit card options on MOD or myMTN App.”
However, the Minister, in a Twitter post, said a meeting with the regulators of the two industries (CBN and NCC) had been held promising that services would be restored soon.
Olumuyiwa Olowogboyega
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In October 2019, MTN Nigeria announced that it would begin charging a â¦4 fee every time customers use Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to make bank transactions.
It was another chapter in a long drawn out squabble between banks and telcos over who should pay for USSD. Initially the plan was for banks to pay those charges which telcos say are around â¦12 for one session and then remit it in bulk to the telcos. The banks balked at that plan and asked telcos to charge customers directly.
Eventually, Nigeriaâs Communication Commission stepped in with a price determination template. This is important for a few reasons; USSD is a service that costs money and someone has to pay for it. The NCC determined that a typical USSD session lasts 20 seconds and set a price cap of â¦4.98 for each session.
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