The Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Prof. Umar Danbatta, has disclosed that the outstanding debt of N120 billion owed by banks for the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data to telecom operators has been settled.
With this, he claimed that the banks had consented to pay off the accumulated debt and keep paying for the USSD service moving forward in accordance with the corporate billing period following the intervention of Acting Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Folashodun Shonubi.
Danbatta made this known at the Telecom Executives and Regulators Forum on Thursday in Lagos.
At a recent meeting between the acting CBN Governor, the NCC, the telecom operators, and the banks, the matter, according to the EVC, was resolved.
He claimed that the realisation that telecom services are necessary for financial inclusion led to the resolution’s success.
Danbatta explained the issue’s root cause as the banks’ insistence on end-user billing above corporate billing, which resulted in debt accumulation.
The telecom companies have threatened to cut off the banks’ access to the USSD service under the auspices of the Association of Licenced Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria. After numerous interventions by Isa Pantami, the former Minister of Communications and the Digital Economy, the issue failed to be solved.
