Telecommunication operators under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) disclosed that the four-year dispute over nearly N300bn owed for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services has been resolved.
Gbenga Adebayo, ALTON Chairman, disclosed this resolution on Thursday during an official visit to the Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Idris Olorunnimbe, where he appreciated the intervention of the NCC, led by its Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Aminu Maida.
He said, “When Dr. Maida assumed office, he inherited significant industry challenges. One of the most difficult was the USSD debt crisis, a debt burden that grew over four years to nearly N300bn. It had become a systemic risk to our sector and the digital financial ecosystem.
“Through firm leadership, structured engagement, and decisive coordination, Dr. Maida and his team resolved this issue.
“Today, there is no outstanding USSD debt. The ecosystem has fully migrated to end-user billing. What was once a looming crisis has been converted into a sustainable framework.”
Adebayo said the sector introduced the End-User-Billing (EUB) system on June 18, 2025, to ensure that subscribers are properly billed; charges are directly deducted from mobile airtime at N6.98 per session lasting up to 120 seconds, which means banks no longer charge for USSD services.
According to him, “USSD services play a vital role in expanding access to financial services, particularly for unbanked and underbanked populations.
“However, the previous corporate billing model, where banks were billed by telecom operators, led to prolonged disputes over unpaid charges, service interruptions, and uncertainty for customers.
“To address these challenges, the NCC’s 2025 determination introduced the End-User Billing (EUB) model, which allows mobile network operators to charge customers directly for USSD sessions.
“To achieve the implementation of the EUB model, the CBN and NCC have stipulated that only banks that meet certain regulatory and operational conditions are permitted to migrate.”
