The Nigerian Communications Commission has revised the previous price for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD).
This was disclosed in a statement signed by the agency’s spokesperson, Ikechukwu Adinde, on Wednesday.
The amendment was necessitated following a protracted dispute between Mobile Network Operators and Financial Institutions on the applicable charges for USSD services and the method of billing.
The USSD channel has evolved over time from a telco-exclusive channel used for only telco services such as balance inquiry and recharges to a channel for the deployment of a broad spectrum of services, including financial, insurance, agricultural, government services and more.
The use of USSD channels have become a critical resource in the economy even more so in this era of the COVID-19 pandemic that has witnessed a rise in reliance on digital services.
The revised price floor and the cap to allow the Mobile Network Operators and the banks negotiate rates will be mutually beneficial to all parties concerned.
As a responsive and effective regulatory authority, the Commission recognises that its policies are not static and may be modified from time to time as circumstances demand.
The Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, had directed a review of the USSD pricing by all parties involved. This was following a presentation made by the Commission on the billing structure, determination of USSD pricing, its status, and the way forward.
“USSD is a service to banks and not to the Telecom Consumers, and as such, banks should see themselves as corporate customers of telecom operators with a duty to pay for using the telecom network and infrastructure, including USSD channels extended to them for service delivery to their customers,” he said.
“Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have no direct relationship to bank customers, and cannot, therefore, charge directly for the usage of USSD channel.”
The Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Umar Danbatta, said the decision is in the interest of the consumers and other stakeholders.
The NCC said MNOs must not charge the consumers directly for the use of USSD channels for financial services in the form of end-user-billing.
The transaction should be between the MNOs and the entity to which the service is provided (i.e. Banks and Financial Institutions).