The Nigerian Communications Commission will this week publicly release the names of 18 banks that have failed to settle their outstanding debts for using Mobile Network Operators’ Unstructured Supplementary Service Data platforms.
These banks collectively owe a total of N200bn, and the telecom regulator is preparing to take action, including suspending USSD services for the defaulters.
Impeccable industry sources told The PUNCH on Monday that only four banks have met the payment requirements outlined in a joint directive issued by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the NCC in December 2023.
The directive stipulated that 60 per cent of pre-API (Application Programming Interfaces) invoices must be settled by January 2, 2025, with payment plans to be agreed upon by the banks and MNOs.
However, the other banks have yet to fulfill their payment obligations. Pre-API invoices are the outstanding payments for USSD services that were incurred before the implementation of Application Programming Interfaces in February 2022.
