Banks don dey owe telecommunication companies N200bn for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) services. Dis mata dey happen as dem dey drag for negotiations between the banks and telcos. Telecom operators yan dis one on Thursday for Nigerian Communications Commission industry interactive session with di new Executive Vice Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of di commission, Dr Aminu Maida.
Di Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), wey dey represent telcos, make e clear say dem no go forget di debt. ALTON Chairman, Gbenga Adebayo, for him address talk say, “Banks dey owe us money. Di debt don pass N200bn. E no go disappear, if dem no pay di money, nobody go forget.”
E talk say di debt dey affect di financial technology economy negatively. Him yan again, “If dem no solve dis problem, e go continue to disturb progress for di sector. I dey beg you today, abeg look into dis matter wey concern di money wey banks dey owe us. We no go discuss forgiveness, make dem pay.”
Adebayo talk say, although dem still dey discuss di matter between telcos and banks, e slow and e fit no get di effect wey dem need.
Dis new tori show say di USSD debt don increase by about 66.67% from di N120bn wey e be earlier for di year. Since 2019, banks and telcos don dey get issue about how dem go take pay USSD debt. For 2020, di debt be N17bn, but since den, dem never fit resolve am.
Earlier for di year, telcos bin talk say dem go cut off banks from using USSD services, but later NCC talk say banks agree to pay telcos afta dem intervene. For October, telcos threaten to go court as dem never still resolve di matter. Adebayo talk say, “If dem go court to resolve di USSD debt, make dem do am. Every effort wey everybody dey make, where we go one step forward, we go dey go back several steps, e no go work.”
USSD dey important to improve financial inclusion for di country because of di plenty feature phones wey dey use. Di wahala wey dey happen for di payment of dis service fit spoil digital financial inclusion, as NCC don talk before.
Meanwhile, Adebayo talk say telcos dey pay 52 different taxes and levies, wey make dem one of di most taxed for di country. Him talk say dis taxes dey affect how dem dey operate and e dey stop growth for di sub-sector. Before, telcos bin dey pay a little over 41 different taxes. Him talk say, “Today, we check di number of taxes and levies wey we dey pay across di country, e don reach 52. We be one of di most taxed sectors for di economy. E no be just di taxes dey di issue, e na how dem dey collect dem. Dis tin dey affect how we wan do our work. Quality of service and co, all of dem dey connect together.”
As Maida dey yarn to di telcos, him talk say make quality of service and quality of experience improve for di sector. Him talk say telecoms consumers suppose begin enjoy di services wey dem pay for. E talk say make telcos dey more innovative, even as dem get challenges wey dem dey face. Him yan say NCC dey talk with Original Equipment Manufacturers to help create jobs for di country.