Political interference cause of N150bn USDD debt – ALTON

Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Companies of Nigeria (ALTON), Gbenga Adebayo has blamed the lingering N150billion Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) debt owed telecom operators by banks on political interference.

USSD are a series of codes which allow users without smartphones or data/internet connection to do mobile banking.

Adebayo, who spoke at the ongoing Nigeria Telecoms Indigenous Content Expo (NTICE 2023) at Landmark Events Centre, Lekki, Lagos, urged the new minister of communication, innovation and digital economy, Bosun Tijani, to preserve the independence of the telecoms sector under the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).

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Adebayo recalled that the USSD agreement was basically a commercial contract akin to buying and selling in which case if there’s no payment, no supply would be made.

He said the industry has resorted to the terms of the contract when the banks refused to pay but the matter was taken to the political space with the intervention of the minister and Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which has made the matter drag for so long.

He also raised the alarm over the unsustainable end user pricing for services in the telecoms sector in view of the cost of doing business, especially now that fuel subsidy has been yanked off.

He added that in the not too distant future, electricity subsidies would go.

He said: “We must look at a more realistic pricing for the services we offer because the current pricing is not sustainable.”