The Nigerian Communications Commission has issued a new directive requiring banks to deduct Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transaction charges directly from customers’ mobile airtime instead of their bank account balances.
This change, communicated by the United Bank for Africa to its customers, will take effect on June 3, 2025.
UBA stated, “In line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), please be informed that effective June 3, 2025, charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from your bank account.”
The bank further explained that, “Going forward, these charges will be deducted directly from your mobile airtime balance in accordance with the NCC’s End-User Billing (EUB) model.”
As part of the new arrangement, each USSD session will incur a charge of ₦6.98 per 120 seconds, which will be billed by the mobile network operator.
UBA added, “You will receive a consent prompt at the start of each session, and airtime will only be deducted upon your confirmation and availability of the bank to fulfil this service.”
The bank advised customers who do not wish to continue with the new billing model to opt out:
“If you do not wish to continue using USSD banking under this new model, you may choose to discontinue use of the USSD channel.”
The decision stems from a longstanding dispute over USSD service payments between Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).
As of December 2024, MNOs claimed banks owed them over ₦250 billion, prompting intervention by both the Central Bank of Nigeria and the NCC.
Network providers had threatened to terminate USSD services due to the mounting debt.
This recent decision from the NCC is viewed as part of efforts to resolve the disagreement and assure continuous USSD banking services across the country.