The total debt owed telecos through use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) by deposit money banks (DMBs) has risen to N17billion, The Nation has learnt.
The telecoms operators and banks had locked horns over which of them will deduct charges for transactions carried out through the USSD platform provided by telecom infrastructure.
Speaking virtually at the Association of Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ATCON’s) forum on: Meeting the Interests of Government, Consumers and Telecoms Companies in the Era of Covid-19 and Post-Covid-19 Pandemic for Digital Economy Development, CEO of Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) Prof Garba Danbatta said the debt accumulated followed the regulator’s suspension of its Determination on USSD Pricing last year.
The CEO said the final settlement of the issue would be achieved through a tripartite agreement among the lenders, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the telecoms regulator. (The Nation)
