Pay Or No USSD Service - Telcos To Banks

Telcomms companies have disclosed that they are considering stopping the offer of their Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services to banks without  a fee. 

The Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON),  stated that financial institutions would need to pay for their services if they want them to keep offering it.

According to a report by PUNCH newspaper, the chairman of ALTON addressed reporters on Wednesday, saying that telecommunication companies suffered costs daily for the provision of their USSD service.

Telecommunication companies that offer these services proposed to take a share of N4.50k for every 20 seconds from the charges paid by customers to these financial institutions. But this proposal was met with resistance from the banks, saying that it would only increase their cost by 450%.

“The USSD is a service we are providing for the banks and there is a cost incurred by telecom operators for providing those services,” Adebayo said.

“The bank has given an erroneous impression to the public that it is a sunk cost and it is not because for the service to be allowed, the cell site must be powered, there must be transmission link available and our systems must interconnect with the systems of the banks. It is a recurring cost other than the initial capital.”

“If they think we should not charge, they also should not charge our subscribers,” he said.

“A time will come when we will have to invoke our rights under the Communications Act, which allows us to seek a request to disconnect the link.”