Emma Okonji
Worried by the silence of the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Ibrahim Isa Pantami; the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, and the Executive Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, over the raging issue of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) between telecoms operators (Telcos) and the banks, the telcos, yesterday in Lagos, said they would be forced to withdraw the USSD code service, if the silence remained unbroken.
The telecoms operators under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), yesterday, told journalists that they have called for a stakeholders’ meeting that would help resolve the imbroglio that has resulted from the non-implementation of the planned USSD code. They however said if nothing was done urgently, they would be forced to withdraw the service.
The operators, especially MTN had stopped the implementation of the N4 charge per 20 seconds for every USSD access to banking services, following the public outcry and subsequent directive from the minister.
During an interaction with journalists in Lagos yesterday, the telecoms operators insisted that stakeholders involved in the whole saga, including the CBN, Body of Banks CEOs, the minister and the NCC are yet to meet to discuss way forward. According to them the banks had continued to charge as much as N55 per transaction using the same USSD code provided by telecoms operators.
The Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, while sharing the success story of the industry in the last 20 years of existence of the body, insisted that the industry would not offer USSD services free of charge.
Adebayo stressed that the USSD cost was never a sunk cost as championed by the CBN, rather it is an infrastructure, which the operators have invested so much in the last one decade.
According to Adebayo, “I am saying it again that the USSD links will not be offered free of charge. The records are there; we are tracking how much the banks are charging and making on the USSD; when the time comes, and we agree on way forward, we will show them what they have been charging. For the telcos, it cost them so much to provide the service.
“What should have happened is that when we first raised this issue, we made public statement and expected that a stakeholder meeting should have been called to discuss the matter. The CBN governor spoke, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy spoke, the NCC withdrew, and since then, nobody has said nothing! We expected that a meeting of minds, where all parties (telcos and the banks) would come and talk on the matter to a find a lasting solution, but nothing of such. I am saying it again; we cannot bury this matter under the table and wish it goes away, it won’t go away. The fact is those links won’t be provided at no cost.
“When the time comes, we shall treat it as interconnect debt. We shall invoke the right of the provider of service under the Act of the NCC, so if the banks will continue to provide the service and they won’t pay, telcos will make a use case to the NCC for proper disconnect. The fact is if it gets to that level, the economy will suffer. So, if the matter is not resolved adequately, the impact will be felt by all. Imagine, if the links are down, so many banking services will go down.”
According to him, prior to the initial implementation, there was an understanding by the banks that telcos should also charge.
Speaking on the border closure by the Nigerian Customs Service, Adebayo said despite appeal to the authorities involved, the matter has not changed.
The ALTON Chairman said telephony services to those at the border areas have been impacted negatively and those in the border areas are really feeling the impact.
