Nigerian Banks Lift Restriction on MTN Subscribers Two Days after USSD Ban
- Minister of Communications and Digital Economy intervene in Nigerian banks and MTN confrontation
- The disagreement was caused by the telco's decision to reduce the commission it pays to the lenders on USSD usage
- For two days, subscribers of the network provider couldn't use the digital services of Nigerian banks due to the faceoff
PAY ATTENTION: Join a community of CEOs, founders and decision-makers: subscribe for a free monthly business newsletter Digital Talks and succeed BIG!
Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank and other deposit money banks have restored the access of MTN subscribers to their banking apps and Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) code.
For two days, the subscribers couldn't use the digital services of Nigerian banks due to disagreement between the network provider and the financial institutions. The bank had initiated the ban after the telco reduced the USSD commission paid to lenders.
The fee was reduced to 2.5% from 3.5%. Both the banks and aggregator shared N4 from every N100 recharge done on the USSD, while MTN takes the N96. The creditors were uncomfortable with the reduction.
Following a request that the commission be changed back to the old fee, and the telecoms insistence on maintaining the new payment, banks blocked its customers from purchasing MTN airtime.
Source: Twitter
Legit.ng had reported on Friday, April 2, 2021, that the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami, had contacted the telecoms' regulator, Nigerian Communications Commission and the regulator of the financial services, the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The meeting led to the Nigerian banks lifting the ban and enabling MTN subscribers to access the network provider's services. Commenting on the outcome of the meeting, Pantami said:
"The services have been restored since early morning, today."
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had reported that the founder of Stanbic IBTC, Atedo Peterside, had advised the federal government to build twelve standard hospitals with the $1.5 billion budgeted for the Port Harcourt refinery.
Peterside has been critical of the plan to rehabilitate the oil refiner with $1.5 billion, which he said should be sold without repair. Stating that the core investor that purchase the refinery should be responsible for the rehabilitation.
Source: Legit.ng
