Reps To Intervene In N42b Telcos’, Banks’ USSD Debt Tussle
The House of Representatives, Tuesday, intervened in the conflict between telecommunication companies and banks over N42billion debts from Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD).
The House adopted a motion to the effect, on Tuesday citing its Order 8 Rule 4. A motion entitled: “Urgent Need to Intervene In the Impasse of N42billion debt between Telecommunication Operators and Banks and Banks and other Financial Institutions”, was sponsored by Rep. Ossai Nicholas Ossai(PDP-Delta).
In presenting his Motion, Ossai recalled that “in a bid for the Central Bank of Nigeria to realize one of its statutory mandate of Promoting Monetary Stability and Sound Financial System in Nigeria, designed a Cashless Policy, that will provide innovations, easy mobile payment, cost reduction, and convenient financial services to millions of Nigerians living in urban and rural areas.
One of the innovations introduced, is the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services which are used by Global System for Mobile Communication Technology to communicate with their service providers’ computers via text messages to check account balance or mobile airtime, generate bank statement, or does fund transfer and data balance inquiries or to receive one-time passwords or pin codes”.
According to him, “the USSD service which is controlled by Mobile Network Operators, is a critical price Of infrastructure used to provide mobile financial services to banks and other financial institutions in cell phones at very low cost, without requiring access to the user’s SIM card”.
He added that “the USSD infrastructure service houses all the Nigeria telecommunications, thus: MTN, Glo, Airtel & 9Mobile and internet service providers”.
He however observed that “the USSD made it possible, for millions of Nigerians who do not have smartphones or data/internet connections to access banking and other financial services on a daily basis, especially during COVID 19 movement restrictions”.
The sponsor of the motion Informed the House, that “ between January to June 2020, the value of USSD transfer payment in Nigeria amounted to over 390 Billion Naira (about One Billion U.S Dollars)”, but “that since October 2019 till date, there has been a dispute between Nigeria Telecommunication Operators and the Nigerian banks over who should pay for USSD service sessions, and the banks have always wanted the Telecommunication Operators to charge customers directly, but the Telecommunication Operators insisted that the services were being offered to the banks and as such the banks should be the one to pay the Telecommunication Operators”.
He said “ between the months of July and August 2020, the Operators had an agreement with the Federal Ministry of Communications & Digital Economy and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) that Nigerian banks should pay the Telecommunication Operators for the use Of USSD at an agreed individual price mechanism”, as according to him, “ the dispute has lingered for a long time to the extent that parties have been finger-pointing each Other, all efforts at resolving the dispute proved abortive and the debt kept increasing until it is presently N42 Billion”.
He told the House, that he was further “disturbed that the Telecommunication Operators have issued 4 notices, threatening to withdraw and suspend the USSD service from the Nigerian banks starting from Monday, 15th of March, 2021”.
He warned that “if the USSD service is Withdrawn, Nigerian telecommunication users will fall back and continue with their old traditional modes and channels, such as Mobile bank apps, internet banking, ATM, PoS, that makes banking services uninteresting, inconveniencing, with the high cost of financial transactions, which will further put our health in danger as a result of crowding together”.
He also raised concerns “that the USSD service, made it the easiest route for non telecommunication providers to deploy services to the poor people in Nigeria”, acknowledging “that the convenience the USSD brought into Nigeria financial business transactions, made its adoption and acceptability to grow at a very tremendous rate”.
The House adopted the motion, without debate, as it urged “the Telecommunication Operators to halt the planned withdrawal and suspension of USSD services to the Nigerian and other Financial Institutions”.
The House, with Speaker Femi Gbajabiamila presiding, also mandated “the Committee on Telecommunications, to liaise with Telecommunications Operators, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Nigerian Banks and other Financial Institutions With a view to resolving the impasse and report back to the House within six (6) weeks for further legislative action”.
