The payment deadline of Monday, January 27, was missed by almost half of the nine Nigerian banks that owe telecom providers for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services. Recall that on January 15, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), announced in a notice that it would terminate nine banks’ access to USSD due to their failure to pay off a debt of N160 billion that had accrued since 2019.
According to the telecom authority, impacted banks face losing their USSD codes if they don’t pay their outstanding debts by January 27, 2025, BrandSpur telecom and information news reports.
Gbenga Adebayo, the chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ATCON), confirmed the situation to the local news brand on Monday, stating that as of Friday, there were just seven banks in arrears, down from nine. In his opinion: “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.”
Regarding the possibility of a deadline extension, the ARCON Chairman stated: “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.”
According to him, the current enforcement is a component of the first stage of a structured payment scheme that was described in a memo from the NCC and the CBN on December 20.
Continuing, he had this to say: “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.
“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.
“Non-compliance at any stage will have consequences, and we hope to avoid any disruption of services,” he added.
Furthering, he revealed: “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.”
The NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Mouka, stated in his remarks that the Monday deadline specified in the commission’s January 15 directive remains in effect. He said: “We have clearly stated in our publications that disconnection will occur if banks fail to meet the payment deadline.
“It is now up to the telecom operators to decide whether or not to disconnect the services,” Mouka added.
