NCC Orders Telcos to Disconnect Nine Banks’ USSD

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) announced in a public notice signed by Mr. Reuben Muoka, the NCC’s Director of Public Affairs, on Wednesday that it had ordered telecommunications companies to disconnect the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes assigned to nine financial institutions because of unpaid debts.

The affected banks are required to pay their outstanding debts by Jan. 27, 2025, or risk losing their USSD codes, which are necessary to enable mobile banking services.

The NCC also stated that the codes could be transferred to other applicants if the debts were not paid.

Nine of the 18 financial firms were found to have violated regulatory orders by the commission on Tuesday.

“While other banks have cleared their debts, the total amount initially owed by the financial institutions was reported to exceed N200 billion,” it said.

A protracted financial dispute between the banks and telecom carriers is indicated by the NCC, which claims that some of the outstanding invoices have not been paid since 2020.

The notice read: “By the information made available to the commission as of the close of business on Jan. 14, 2025, out of a total of 18 financial institutions, nine institutions failed to comply significantly with the directives in the Second Joint Circular of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the commission.

“The circular is dated Dec. 20, 2024, and is for the settlement of outstanding invoices due to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), some since 2020,” it said.

The NCC noted that the banks’ failure to comply with the CBN-NCC joint circular also meant that they were unable to meet the good standing requirements for the renewal of the USSD codes assigned to them by the commission.

“In fulfilment of its consumer protection mandate, the commission wishes to inform consumers that they may be unable to access the USSD platform of the affected financial institutions from Jan. 27, 2025,” the notice said.

The NCC highlighted that the financial institutions had received adequate notice of the need for quick compliance and cautioned that should the problems not be remedied, customers would experience service interruptions.

This move underscores the persistent conflicts that have existed for years between financial institutions and telecommunications firms over outstanding obligations related to the USSD.

According to CBN data, between January and June 2024, 252.06 million transactions totalling N2.19 trillion were made via USSD.

Compared to 2023, when 630.6 million transactions of N4.84 trillion were made using USSD codes, this indicates a notable increase.

NAN