The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has asked banks to deduct Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions directly from customers’ airtime.
The regulator directed banks to stop deducting from the bank account balances of customers.
This was contained in a message to customers of United Bank for Africa (UBA).
According to UBA, the directive will take effect from June 3, 2025.
UBA said, “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 statement reads.
“Going forward, these charges will be deducted directly from your mobile airtime balance in accordance with the NCC’s End-User Billing (EUB) model.
“Under this new billing structure, each USSD session will attract a charge of N6.98 per 120 seconds, which will be billed by your mobile network operator.
“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.
“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 is linked to the USSD payment dispute between mobile network operators (MNOs) and Deposit Money Banks (DMBs).
Recall that MNOs indebtedness to banks had reached N250bn, which in December 2024, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the NCC directed mobile network operators (MNOs) and DMBs to resolve the long-standing issue.
Network providers threatened to withdraw services over the debt owed by banks.
