Banks and telecommunications operators in Nigeria have resolved a four-year dispute over nearly ₦300bn owed for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data services, with the outstanding debt now fully cleared.
The Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria, Gbenga Adebayo, announced the resolution on Thursday during an official visit to the Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Idris Olorunnimbe.
Adebayo credited the intervention of the NCC, led by its Executive Vice Chairman, Dr Aminu Maida, with bringing the long-standing crisis to an end.
“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 ₦300bn. 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 settlement ends years of accusations and counter-accusations between banks and telecom operators, which had threatened the stability of digital financial services nationwide.
Adebayo also commended the NCC’s leadership for steering the telecom sector through one of its most delicate periods. He cited other interventions, including last year’s approval of a 50 per cent USSD tariff adjustment, describing the debt resolution as a milestone for both the telecom and digital finance ecosystem.
Nigeria’s telcos and banks transitioned to the End-User Billing (EUB) model in mid-2025. The shift moved USSD charges from customers’ bank accounts to mobile airtime, deducted directly by telecom operators.
The transition followed years of tension between telecom operators such as MTN Nigeria and Airtel Nigeria, and commercial banks over revenue sharing. By 2024, unpaid fees had risen to between ₦250bn and ₦300bn.
In collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, the NCC developed the EUB framework to standardise billing, enhance transparency, and promote financial inclusion, particularly for unbanked users who rely heavily on USSD codes.
Under the new system, charges are deducted directly from mobile airtime at ₦6.98 per session lasting up to 120 seconds. Users receive consent prompts before each deduction. Banks no longer bill for USSD services, as telecom operators now handle the charges exclusively. Regulatory safeguards have been introduced to prevent double billing.
Migration to the EUB model began between June 3 and 18, 2025, after partial repayments of ₦171bn. By February 19, 2026, banks had fully cleared the remaining debt, consolidating the nationwide rollout.
The model offers improved user control through instant airtime deductions and session notifications, similar to voice and SMS billing. While some stakeholders have raised concerns about the impact on low-income users, industry players say the transition strengthens revenue sustainability for operators and enhances the stability of Nigeria’s digital financial ecosystem.
