. DMBs complete N160b USSD debt payment to operators
Contrary to the earlier three-month pledge by telecom operators to improve telephony services after securing and implementing a 50 per cent tariff hike in February, subscribers may have to wait till quarter three to begin to enjoy an improved service.

The Chief Executive Officer of MTN Nigeria, Karl Toriola, yesterday, when he was featured on Arise TV to speak on the firm’s first quarter 2025 result, where the telecommunications company reported over N1 trillion in revenue earnings, informed that operators have placed orders for equipment and telephone services should improve by quarter three.

At the Telecoms Executive Forum held in February, the telcos had gathered journalists, content creators and other industry stakeholders together to discuss the 50 per cent hike, where they assured that three months after effecting the hike, service will improve. By that promise, telephone services were supposed to improve by June, but with the new submission of the MTN boss, subscribers would have to wait till any time between August and September to see better QoS.

Toriola admitted that telcos are seriously under clear and significant pressure from the subscribers, NCC and security agencies in the country to improve service, though we have not seen significant earnings coming from the tariff hike, yet “we are all committed to improving service. MTN would probably do more than twice the capital expenditure we did in 2023 and 2024. In the previous two years, we did about N440 billion, we shall increase that to about N900 billion, depending on the performance of our financials, to ensure we upgrade and expand services.

“The quality-of-service issues are multifaceted! The first thing we needed to do was to be able to pay our bills, particularly diesel, among others to prevent site outages. Last year, we were burning about 130 per cent of the cash we were earning, which means we were borrowing to keep the network going. Now, with the gradual stability of the naira, we can cover those bills and start to invest aggressively. Investing means putting additional capacity, for instance, in a city like Lagos and particularly in Abuja, where new buildings are coming up, we need more sites to ensure there is improved coverage.

“We have placed huge orders for equipment, and we are hopeful that by the end of Q2 and especially Q3 2025, after drastic deployments, telephone services should improve greatly. We want to see improved quality of experience on the part of users.”

MEANWHILE on the protracted Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) debt imbroglio between the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and telcos, Toriola confirmed that the matter has been resolved amicably.

The Guardian recalled that the USSD debt had been a major quarrel between the DMBs and telcos and had lasted for about five years. Third quarter of last year, the telcos had threatened to withdraw the service over the lingering debt, which was around N200 billion then. This threat led to the swift intervention of the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) and an agreement was reached on payment.

As of November 2024, the NCC puts the debt at N160 billion. However, earlier this year, when it appeared the banks were not forthcoming with payments, the NCC directed the telcos to withdraw the USSD services from debt-owing DMBs, where about 18 banks were listed.

This directive prompted the banks to look inward and comply with earlier circulars signed by the CBN and NCC, which articulated the payment patterns for the debt.
Toriola confirmed that the matter has been fully resolved and that banks have made payments.

“I can confirm that the matter has been fully resolved. We have received payments in full. Special thanks to the CBN, NCC, the banks and other stakeholders that intervened in the matter,” the MTN CEO stated.

Last month, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON) Gbenga Adebayo, said that the matter was receiving urgent attention from both parties, saying that there was light at the end of the tunnel for the matter to be fully resolved.

Adebayo however told The Guardian that telecom subscribers will soon be paying for the use of (USSD) with deductions from their airtime.

He said talks were currently at advanced stages between the DMBs and telecommunications operators to introduce an end-user billing system.

End-user billing refers to a system where the customer is directly charged for using the USSD service rather than the service provider being charged. This means the customer’s mobile account (airtime or direct billing) is debited for the USSD session, regardless of any subsequent charges the bank might apply. This is a change from the traditional corporate billing model where banks were billed for USSD usage.

Adebayo said discussions are on, and the modalities are being fine-tuned to suit subscribers, telcos and DMBs.