About six out of the nine Nigerian banks owing telecommunications companies for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services failed to meet the Monday January 27 payment deadline.
Recall, we reported that in a notice on January 15, the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, had stated that it would cut off the USSD access of nine banks over their inability to settle a N160 billion debt that had accumulated since 2019.
The telecom regulator said affected banks must settle their outstanding obligations by January 27, 2025, or risk losing access to their USSD codes.
Confirming the development to PUNCH on Monday, Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ATCON), said as at Friday, the number of banks in arrears had dropped from nine to seven.
According to him “One of these seven has reached out to confirm that they will settle their debt today (Monday), which will leave about five or six banks still outstanding,” he said.
On whether if there would be an extension to the deadline, Adebayo said “There will be no extension. If there is to be one, it would require joint approval from the NCC and CBN, but I doubt that either regulator would act without consulting the other.”
The ATCON chairman added that this current enforcement is part of the first phase of a structured payment plan outlined in a December 20 memo from the NCC and the CBN.
“This is just the first phase of the directive. We hope that banks who have complied with this phase will continue to meet their obligations in subsequent ones,” he said.
“The second phase will see banks required to complete full payment of all pre-API invoices by July 2, 2025. Following that, the third phase mandates the settlement of 85 per cent of post-API invoices by December 31, 2025.
“When it comes to the second and third phases, we expect full compliance,” Adebayo noted. “Non-compliance at any stage will have consequences, and we hope to avoid any disruption of services.”
“It’s crucial for non-compliant banks to settle their debts to ensure we don’t disrupt the economy and the digital services subscribers depend on,” Adebayo added.
In his comments, Reuben Mouka, Director of Public Affairs at the NCC, reiterated that that the Monday deadline as outlined in the commission’s January 15 directive stands.
“We have clearly stated in our publications that disconnection will occur if banks fail to meet the payment deadline,” Mouka said. “It is now up to the telecom operators to decide whether or not to disconnect the services,” he said.