In continuation of its mandate in protecting the interests of telecoms consumers and supporting a robust telecommunications sector, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), has revised its Determination on the pricing placed on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) that was published on Tuesday, July 23, 2019.
The reforms were necessary for execution after a long contention between Financial Institutions and Mobile Network Operators on the charges applicable for USSD services and the method of billing.
NCC as a responsive body is well aware that some of its regulatory policies are subject to changes and therefore they can get modified as the situation warrants.
This is a response to the recent directive from Dr. Isa Ali Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, as regards a review of the USSD pricing by all parties involved, after a presentation made by NCC as it concerns the determination of USSD pricing, billing structure, current status and progress moving forward.
The Minister at the presentation stated that the decision was taken to stop the commencement of end-user billing (airtime balance of consumers are deducted when they use USSD channels as opposed to corporate billing where MNOs are paid by banks for charges on USSD service) because he was“genuinely besieged with a barrage of complaints at the attempted commencement of end-user billing by service providers.”
Dr. Pantami also cleared the air that “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.”
According to the Minister, “Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) have no direct relationship to bank customers, and cannot, therefore, charge directly for the usage of USSD channel.”
Over time, the USSD channel has seen some changes ranging from a telco-exclusive channel used for only telco services which include recharges and balance inquiry to a medium for deploying a broad spectrum of services such as government, insurance, agricultural, financial services and more.
USSD channels usage has become part of a critical resource in the Nigerian economy, especially in this Covid-19 pandemic time which has seen a rise in digital service reliance.
In the interest of the consumers and other stakeholders, the Executive Vice Chairman of the NCC, Prof. Umar Garba Danbatta, has revised the previously issued Determination through the removal of the Price Floor and the Cap that allow banks and the Mobile Network Operators in negotiating rates that will bring mutual benefit to all concerned parties.
The Commission also determined that charges on the use of USSD channels for financial services in the form of end-user-billing by the Mobile Network Operators must not be directly on the consumers.
According to NCC, the transaction should be between the entity to which the service is provided (i.e. Banks and Financial Institutions) and the MNOs.
You can get a copy of the Determination is available on the NCC’s website.
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