Commercial banks and telecommunications operators have finally resolved their prolonged dispute over unpaid Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) charges, with nearly N300 billion in accumulated debt now fully settled.
The breakthrough was announced on Thursday by Gbenga Adebayo, Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), during a visit to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Adebayo disclosed that the debt, which built up over four years, had posed a serious systemic risk to both the telecommunications sector and Nigeria’s digital financial ecosystem.
According to him, the intervention of the NCC’s Executive Vice-Chairman, Aminu Maida, was instrumental in resolving the impasse.
“When Dr Maida assumed office, he inherited significant industry challenges. One of the most difficult was the USSD debt crisis — a debt burden that grew over four years to nearly N300 billion. It had become a systemic risk to our sector and the digital financial ecosystem,” Adebayo said.
“Through firm leadership, structured engagement, and decisive coordination, Dr Maida and his team resolved this issue. Today, there is no outstanding USSD debt. The ecosystem has fully migrated to end-user billing. What was once a looming crisis has been converted into a sustainable framework.”
The dispute between banks and telecom operators dates back to 2019, when telcos declared they could no longer sustain the provision of USSD services without compensation. They proposed a charge of N4.50 per 20 seconds from fees paid by customers to banks — a move strongly opposed by the banks, who argued it would significantly increase costs.
Tensions escalated on March 12, 2021, when operators threatened to suspend USSD services over an initial N42 billion debt. The planned suspension was halted following intervention by Isa Pantami, then Minister of Communications and Digital Economy.
Subsequently, banks and mobile network operators agreed on March 16, 2021, to fix the USSD transaction fee at N6.98 per transaction. Despite this agreement, the debt continued to rise — reaching N80 billion by November 2022, N200 billion by November 2023, and peaking between N250 billion and N300 billion in 2024.
The growing crisis prompted regulatory action by the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), leading to the introduction of an End-User Billing (EUB) framework.
Under the new arrangement, banks now deduct USSD transaction charges directly from customers’ mobile airtime. Migration to the new billing system was completed between June 3 and June 18, 2025, following partial repayments of N171 billion by the banks.
Industry stakeholders say the resolution restores stability to Nigeria’s telecom and digital banking ecosystem and removes a major source of friction between financial institutions and network operators.