USSD: No going back on disconnecting banks ATCON
…As CBN, NCC set to address complaints by telcos
Sequel to the directive of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to bar telcos from collecting charges on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions from end-users,
the Association of Telecommunications Companies of Nigeria (ATCON) has reiterated that banks would be charged instead, noting that they would be disconnected from the service should they fail to pay their bills.
Speaking with The Daily Times at the weekend, the President of ATCON, Mr Olusola Teniola, called for transparency on the part of the banks as the future of digital financial services are dependent on telecommunications platforms.
Teniola explained that digital financial services can only be achieved with greater inclusion of bank customers through telecommunications platforms, saying telecommunications is the most affordable and pervasive platform with subscribers in the region of 176 million.
Earlier, telcos had threatened to invoke the relevant section of the Nigerian Communications Act 2003 by not allowing banks further access to the USSD link over the silence of stakeholders after Pantami had directed the NCC to bar the telcos from collecting charges for use of USSD service.
Recall that the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Mr Gbenga Adebayo, had insisted that telcos would not offer USSD services free of charge.
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Adebayo said, ” I am saying it again that the USSD links will not be offered free of charge. The records are there. We are tracking how much the banks are charging and making on USSD when the time comes, and we agree on the way forward, we will show them what they have been charging. For the telcos, it costs so much to provide the service.”
Meanwhile, a meeting at the instance of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the NCC is expected to hold this month, January 2020, to address the complaints by telcos over USSD charges.
