Communications Minister, Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantai, has directed telecoms service providers to stay action on their planned charge on customers who use unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) channels to access banking services.
The Minister gave the order in a press release posted on the official Twitter handle of the Federal Ministry of Communications on Sunday.
Some telecommunications network service providers have sent notices to their customers of the new charge which they said would commence from October 21.
A notification sent by MTN to customers read: “Please note that from Oct 21, we will charge N4 per 20 seconds for USSD access to banking services. Thank you.”
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Before now, telecoms service providers charged customers per USSD session.
However, the press release signed by Uwa Suleiman, spokesperson to the Minister, said the Minister was unaware of the new charge and has directed the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) to ensure the suspension of the plan.
The release read:
“The attention of the Federal Ministry of Communications has been drawn to the viral text message allegedly sent by the Mobile Network Operator MTN Nigeria and other Mobile Operators notifying subscribers of a four naira (N4:00) charge per 20 seconds on USSD access to banking services from the 21st of October 2019.
“The office of the Honourable Minister of Communications Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami FNCS, FBCS, FIIM is unaware of this development and has hereby directed the sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) ensures the operator suspends such plans until the Honourable Minister is fully and properly briefed.”
Banking services were introduced on USSD channels to ensure easier access to banking services.
JHowever, the planned new charge would mean that customers would pay N12 for every minute spent on the USSD channel.
