They stated that banks must pay the debt, insisting banks
would be disconnected once every effort at resolution was exhausted.
This was disclosed by the Chairman, Association of Licensed
Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo.
According to him, banks are yet to positively respond to
telcos, threatening the continued usage of USSD for financial services.
This is following a disconnection notice the banks issued to
the banks recently following regulatory approval from the Nigerian
Communication Commission to disconnect banks from USSD access.
He told The PUNCH, “There has been no (progress) and we are
going to go ahead. As I said to you the last time, the parties are now
following the terms of the agreement between them.
“Individual operators have different models of agreement
with different banks. Parties are now following that. Appropriately, each will
enforce the disconnection when the time is appropriate. But I can’t say to you
that the problem is solved, and I can’t say to you that the problem will go
away. For those who are thinking that the banks will not pay, and the operator
will forgive it, that will never happen. The sums involved must be paid a
hundred per cent. We are not backing down.”
Adebayo stated that the telecoms industry intends to insist
on payment or disconnect services. He noted that banks have a moral obligation
to pay since they have been collecting payment from their customers for the
service.
“The banks have the moral obligation to pay. You can see
what is happening, that people are been held to account. Because these are
services that are rendered and paid for,” he said, “They deduct money from
users of the channel, whereas the money due to the operator is not remitted.
They are taking money from the bank account of users
already. They have the moral burden to pay the debt, and it is not going away.”
He further asserted, “The process of disconnection is
ongoing, appropriately we would take that action when we get to the end of the
bridge.”
Since 2019, banks and telcos have been at each other’s
throats over the payment of USSD services. When the disagreement began, telcos
claimed that banks were owing them N32bn, which grew to N120bn as of recently.
USSD is the primary financial infrastructure for many
Nigerians, with only about 44 per cent owning smartphones according to Alliance
for Affordable Internet. 762.19 million transactions were carried out using
USSD in 2020, according to the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc.
The future of USSD remains uncertain, especially after the
Chief Executive Officer, Guaranty Trust Holding Company, said, “USSD is a
clumsy technology. It’s not state-of-the-art. The best way to have financial
inclusion is to crash the cost of data so that data becomes more affordable.
Then we can use what is a superior technology.”