CBN Now Charges ₦6.98 Per USSD Transaction

In October 2019, MTN Nigeria announced that it would begin charging a ₦4 fee every time customers use Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) to make bank transactions.

It was another chapter in a long drawn out squabble between banks and telcos over who should pay for USSD. Initially the plan was for banks to pay those charges which telcos say are around ₦12 for one session and then remit it in bulk to the telcos. The banks balked at that plan and asked telcos to charge customers directly.

Eventually, Nigeria’s Communication Commission stepped in with a price determination template. This is important for a few reasons; USSD is a service that costs money and someone has to pay for it. The NCC determined that a typical USSD session lasts 20 seconds and set a price cap of ₦4.98 for each session.

Yet, when MTN sent out its notification saying that it would charge customers for USSD transactions, the NCC claimed it had not been notified and suspended those charges. It set the scene for two years of disagreements before yesterday’s official decision to peg prices at ₦6.98 for USSD. 

According to the statement from NCC and CBN, “this replaces the current per session billing structure, ensuring a much cheaper average cost for customers to enhance financial inclusion. This approach is transparent and will ensure the amount remains the same, regardless of the number of sessions per transaction.”