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Nigeria’s Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr. Isa Ibrahim Pantami has ordered the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to investigate and sanction telecommunication companies found to have imposed fees for use of Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) by telecom despite an order by the ministry that such charges should be halted.
A statement by the ministry this morning in Abuja said it has been aware that despite the directive to suspend USSD charges, some operators have continued “the illegal deduction from subscribers.” The ministry has therefore ordered the telecom regulator to commence immediate investigation with a view to penalise offending operators, said the statement signed by the minister’s spokesperson, Mrs. Uwa Suleiman.
Controversy has trailed USSD charges since the MTN, Nigeria’s largest telco with more than 50 million subscribers, announced plans to directly charge subscribers for USSD. Following public outcry, the ministry halted the moves and asked that the regulator look into the matter.
But telcos have blamed banks for the controversy arguing that the financial players had instructed the telcos to make direct charges on USSD as against the practice with other electronic channels such as the use of automated teller machines (ATMs) which are also largely powered by telcos’ infrastructures.
According to the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), the umbrella body for telcos, asking operators to charge subscribers for USSD could expose them to double billing as banks already known to be charging, as a routine, for the service.
USSD charges underscore greed by banks, ALTON
Besides, ALTON argued that to impose USSD charges on bank customers reflects a measure of greed on the part of the financial players.
“Given that the USSD channel has become an established and most preferred channel for the banks especially for the banked population, we state that asking the customer to pay for USSD is akin to requesting a customer to pay a bank’s landlord access fees prior to gaining access to banking premises.
“In our view, this would be unfair to the customers particularly as such costs should have been covered by the transaction cost already imposed on the bank customers,” said ALTON in a statement earlier issued in Lagos this week and jointly signed by its Chairman, Mr. Gbenga Adebayo and Head of Operations, Gbolahan Awonuga.
Read
the full text of the ministry’s statement below:
PANTAMI ORDERS NCC TO IVESTIGATE AND
SANCTION CULPABLE MOBILE OPERATORS ON USSD SERVICE CHARGE
The attention of the Honourable Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami FNCS, FBCS, FIIM has been drawn to the activities of some Mobile Network Operators who, in spite of the earlier directive suspending the planned Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) access charge on banking services, have continued the illegal deduction from subscribers. The Minister has been inundated with allegations of deductions by some Mobile Network Operators before the directive was issued and those who continue to engage in it.
In view of this, the Honourable Minister hereby directs the sector regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to with immediate effect, investigate these allegations and where found to be true, sanction defaulters for breaching the directive in accordance with the law. This also serves as a notice to the general public that anyone in possession of evidence of charges after the Honourable Minister’s directive had taken effect, should forward same to the Nigerian Communications commission (NCC) for further action.
This procedure should be given utmost priority, as the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari GCFR, and the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy under the watch of Dr Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, will not condone any form of indiscipline and injustice.
It will be recalled that the Honourable Minister had, in an earlier directive suspended the planned access service charge of N4:00 per 20 seconds by telecoms operators in the country.
Signed
Uwa Suleiman (Mrs)
Spokesperson to the Honourable Minister of Communications & Digital Economy
24th October, 2019
