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Banks and telecommunications operators in Nigeria have ended a four-year dispute over nearly N300bn owed for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data services, with the debt now fully cleared, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria said.
ALTON’s Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, announced the resolution on Thursday during an official visit to the Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Idris Olorunnimbe. He credited the intervention of the NCC, led by its Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Aminu Maida, with bringing the long-standing dispute to a close.
“When Dr Maida assumed office, he inherited significant industry challenges,” Adebayo said. “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.”
The clearing of the debt ends years of accusations and counter-accusations between banks and telecom operators, which had threatened the stability of digital financial services in the country.
Adebayo praised the NCC’s leadership for steering the telecom sector through one of its most delicate periods, noting other interventions, including last year’s approval of a 50 per cent USSD tariff. He described the resolution of the debt crisis as a milestone for the telecom and digital finance ecosystem, ensuring sustainability and predictability for operators and service providers.
Nigeria’s telco and bank billing for USSD services transitioned to the end-user billing model in mid-2025, moving charges from bank accounts to customers’ mobile airtime, which is deducted directly by telecom operators. This shift resolved the long-standing dispute in which banks owed operators up to N300bn in unpaid USSD fees.
The transition arose from years of tension between telecom operators, including MTN and Airtel, and banks over USSD revenue sharing, with debts peaking at N250–300bn by 2024. The NCC, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, developed the EUB framework to standardise billing, enhance transparency, and support financial inclusion for unbanked users who rely heavily on USSD codes.
Under the EUB system, charges are now deducted directly from mobile airtime at N6.98 per session lasting up to 120 seconds, with user consent prompts issued before each deduction. Banks no longer bill for USSD services; telcos handle them exclusively, with regulatory safeguards preventing double-billing. Users can opt in or out of the service, and banks are required to notify customers in advance of any USSD session charges.
Migration to the EUB model began between June 3 and 18, 2025, following partial debt repayments amounting to N171bn. By February 19, 2026, banks had fully cleared the remaining debt, solidifying the EUB rollout.
The model improves user control through immediate airtime deductions and session notifications, similar to voice and SMS billing. While some critics have expressed concern over potential burdens on low-income users, the transition strengthens telecom revenue sustainability and contributes to the stability of Nigeria’s digital financial ecosystem.
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