In a landmark development for Nigeria’s digital economy, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) announced that the long-standing N300 billion debt dispute between commercial banks and telecommunications operators has been fully resolved.
The resolution marks the end of a four-year standoff that at several points threatened to paralyze the nation’s Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) infrastructure, the backbone of financial inclusion for millions of unbanked and underbanked Nigerians.
The Final Settlement
During an official visit to the Chairman of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), Mr. Idris Olorunnimbe, ALTON Chairman Engr. Gbenga Adebayo confirmed that Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have cleared all outstanding obligations.
“Today, there is no outstanding USSD debt,” Adebayo stated. “What was once a looming crisis that posed a systemic risk to our sector and the digital financial ecosystem has been converted into a sustainable framework.”
The debt, which peaked at approximately N300 billion by late 2024, stemmed from a protracted disagreement over the technical and commercial terms of USSD service delivery. While banks utilized the platform to facilitate billions in mobile banking transactions, disputes over who should bear the cost the banks or the end-users led to years of unremitted fees to telcos like MTN, Airtel, and Glo.
A Regulatory Masterclass in Intervention
The resolution is being hailed as a major victory for the "firm leadership" of the NCC and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Industry experts point to the strategic intervention of the NCC’s Executive Vice Chairman, Dr. Aminu Maida, who inherited the crisis upon taking office and prioritized a structured engagement process.
Key milestones that led to this breakthrough included:
The 2024 Mandate: A joint circular from the CBN and NCC in late 2024 forced banks to settle 85% of post-2022 invoices and 60% of legacy debts.
The Ultimatum: In early 2025, the NCC issued a stern warning to non-compliant banks, threatening to withdraw and reassign their USSD shortcodes, a move that would have cut off millions of customers from mobile banking.
Partial Payments: By mid-2025, banks had remitted an initial N171 billion, signaling a commitment to the new regulatory roadmap.
Transition to End-User Billing (EUB)
Perhaps the most significant outcome of the dispute is the total migration to the End-User Billing (EUB) model, which became fully operational in June 2025.
Under the previous "Corporate Billing" model, telcos charged banks, who were then expected to pay from their service margins. The new EUB system simplifies the process: customers are now charged directly from their mobile airtime. "The ecosystem has fully migrated," Adebayo explained. "Under the EUB system, charges are deducted directly from mobile airtime at N6.98 per 120-second session, following a transparent opt-in prompt for the user."
This shift removes the banks as "middlemen" in the payment flow for the technical service, effectively preventing future debt accumulation and ensuring telcos receive immediate value for the infrastructure provided.
Impact on the Digital Economy
The settlement has already begun to trigger a wave of renewed investor confidence. According to market analysts, the removal of this "financial overhang" allows telecommunications companies to resume aggressive capital expenditure (CAPEX) planning, which had been hampered by the massive debt on their balance sheets.
"This resolution provides the predictability that the sector desperately needed," said a financial analyst at a Lagos-based firm. "With the debt cleared and new tariff adjustments approved in late 2025, we are seeing telcos return to profitability and reinvest in network stabilization."
For the average Nigerian, the resolution ensures that the *xxx# codes used for everything from airtime purchases to emergency transfers remain active and reliable. While some consumer advocacy groups initially raised concerns about the shift of costs to the end-user, the regulators have maintained that a transparent, paid service is preferable to a "free" service that faces constant threats of disconnection.
The Road Ahead
As the curtain falls on this four-year saga, the focus of the NCC and CBN has shifted toward deepening broadband penetration and protecting critical national infrastructure.
While the USSD debt is gone, the industry still faces challenges including high energy costs, currency volatility, and fiber optic vandalism. However, with the "systemic risk" of the bank-telco feud finally neutralized, Nigeria’s digital financial landscape appears more stable than it has been in half a decade.