UBA, FCMB, Zenith, six others face disconnection from USSD platform over debts

Telecommunications companies in Nigeria have been ordered to restrict nine banks from accessing the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes, assigned to them. The Director of Public Affairs for the Nigerian Communications Commission, Reuben Muoka, in a statement on Friday, said the nine banks must pay their outstanding USSD debts before January 27, 2025, when the directive will take effect. The affected banks include: Fidelity Bank (770), First City Monument Bank (329), Jaiz Bank (773), Polaris Bank Limited (833), Sterling Bank Limited (832), United Bank for Africa (919), Unity Bank (7799), Wema Bank (945), and Zenith Bank (966).
It read, “Nigerian Communications Commission hereby notifies members of the public that it is grunting approval to Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) to disconnect Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) Codes assigned by the Commission to financial institutions which are indebted to the MNOs if such institutions do not settle the outstanding invoices by Monday, January 27, 2025. The commission will thereafter recover such codes and may reassign them to other applicants in accordance with the applicable instruments. In fulfilment of its consumer protection mandate, the commission wishes to inform consumers that they may be unable to access the USSD platform of the affected financial institutions from January 27, 2025.”
The NCC said, as of Tuesday, only nine out of 18 financial institutions failed to comply with the directives in the Second Joint Circular of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the commission dated December 20, 2024, to settle outstanding invoices due to MNOS, some since 2020. It stated, “The financial institutions’ failure to comply with the CBN-NCC joint circular also means that they are unable to meet the good standing requirements for the renewal of the USSD codes assigned to them by the commission.” According to the statement, the affected financial institutions have been notified of their urgent need to immediately comply with the commission’s guidelines on Short Code Operation in Nigeria 2023.