After Resolving Interconnect Debt Issues, NCC Moves to Address N200bn Controversial USSD Debt

Emma Okonji

The Nigerian telecommunications industry is fraught with challenges that have become a litmus test for the telecoms industry regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), to tackle.

Prominent among the challenges are the interconnect debt issues among telecoms operators and the over N200 billion Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) debt owed telecoms operators by Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).

Both challenges have lingered for so long and they are already affecting telecoms operations across networks as well as the telecoms subscribers.

Disturbed by the prolonged challenges and their negative impacts on telecommunications service offerings, NCC has identified the challenges as key priorities for immediate resolution.

THISDAY investigation revealed that NCC has addressed the interconnect debt issues to an appreciable end, and has commenced fresh moves to also address the controversial USSD debt that has been alleged to have accumulated to over N200 billion as at October 2024.     

An insider source from NCC, told THISDAY that NCC called all parties involved in the interconnect debt issues to a meeting, where the debts were reviewed and resolved and immediate decision was taken for the payment of all outstanding interconnect debts owed by different telecoms operators. “All outstanding interconnect debts had since been cleared,” the source said.

Interconnect debt is the accumulation of stipulated amount of money recorded over a period of time for all telecoms calls that were generated from one network and terminated on another network. Although telecoms operators were supposed to reconcile the amount of calls that were generated and terminated on each other’s networks, but some operators deliberately allowed the stipulated amount to accumulate without off-setting the bills, a development that led to the accumulation of huge interconnect debts that ran into billions of naira before it was addressed.

After successfully resolving the interconnect imbroglio, the customer-centric regulator is currently addressing the USSD debt, with all intents and purposes to also reach amicable conclusion.  

THISDAY investigation also revealed that extensive negotiations have been ongoing to resolve the USSD debt issue, with NCC designing a framework that will determine the issues surrounding the controversial N200 billion debt, which accumulated over the years between the banks and the telcos.  

“NCC is currently looking at what is fair, what is accurate, and when there is a successful transaction that requires billing. The banks charge the customers using the USSD code but do not remit to the operators that own the USSD platform.

NCC, which regulates the telecoms industry and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which regulates the banks are currently reviewing the debts afresh. The regulators are also reviewing claims from banks that the monies were deducted directly from subscriber’s bank account, controlled by the banks and not directly from the airtime on the mobile phones of the subscribers, controlled by the telcos,” the source told THISDAY.

Deposit Money Banks and the telecoms operators have been at loggerheads since 2019, over the non-remittance of USSD fees charged by banks.

As at 2019, telcos said the accumulated USSD debt was N32 billion. The figure continued to accumulate to reach N42 billion as at March 2021 and N80 billion as at November 2022, until it rose to reach N120 billion in June 2023 and over N200 billion in October 2024.  

Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo, had threatened to go to court to challenge the banks and had also threatened to withdraw the USSD services, should the debt continues to liger. He however told THISDAY that ALTON would wait for the outcome of the fresh negotiations between the two regulators before implementing the threat actions.