The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have reached a resolution on the pricing of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services.
A framework released by the two regulatory bodies showed that from March 16, USSD charges per transaction would be N6.98, the regulatory institutions announced yesterday in a joint statement.
This comes amid the existence of an outstanding accumulated charge of about N42 billion, which prompted the intervention of the Federal Government at the weekend, as stakeholders insisted that the time had come to find a lasting solution to the matter.
According to a statement by the CBN and the NCC, the new price was the outcome of a meeting by the stakeholders. It noted that the meeting was chaired by the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami.
The regulatory bodies acknowledged that “Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have had protracted disagreements concerning the appropriate USSD pricing model for financial transactions”.
Signed by Acting Director of Corporate Communications, CBN, Mr Osita Nwanisobi and the Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Dr Ikechukwu Adinde, the statement acknowledged that “Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have had protracted disagreements concerning the appropriate USSD pricing model for financial transactions”.
It added that the disagreements had “resulted in the accumulation of outstanding fees for USSD services rendered leading to potential service withdrawal by the MNOs”, adding that USSD remained a critical channel for delivering financial services, particularly for the underserved and/or financially excluded.
“To resolve the lingering dispute and ensure uninterrupted services to customers on this channel, the Minister for Communications and Digital Economy on March 15, 2021 chaired a meeting of key stakeholders to discuss an amicable resolution in the interest of the general public.
“We are pleased to announce that after comprehensive deliberations on the key issues, a resolution framework acceptable to all parties was agreed thus:
“Effective March 16, 2021, USSD services for financial transactions conducted at DMBs and all CBN – licensed institutions will be charged at a flat fee of N6.98 per transaction.
