N120bn debt: Banks will be disconnected from USSD codes, Telcos insist

Chairman, Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo has insisted that telecom companies will not be forgiving the N120bn Unstructured Supplementary Service Data debt banks owe them.

He insisted that banks would be disconnected once every effort at resolution was exhausted.

According to him, banks are yet to positively respond to telcos, threatening the continued usage of USSD for financial services.

This is following a disconnection notice the banks issued to the banks recently following regulatory approval from the Nigerian Communication Commission to disconnect banks from USSD access.

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“There has been no (progress) and we are going to go ahead. As I said to you the last time, the parties are now following the terms of the agreement between them.

“Individual operators have different models of agreement with different banks. Parties are now following that. Appropriately, each will enforce the disconnection when the time is appropriate.

“But I can’t say to you that the problem is solved, and I can’t say to you that the problem will go away. For those who are thinking that the banks will not pay, and the operator will forgive it, that will never happen. The sums involved must be paid a hundred per cent. We are not backing down.”