TheNewsGuru

USSD: Nigerians angry as MTN introduces N4 charge for banking services

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by

Femi Ajasa
in
  • FG distances self from new USSD charge

Nigerians were on Sunday aggrieved as Nigeria telecommunication operator, MTN introduces new charge for customers who use unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) channels to access banking services.

According to the message that was sent by MTN to its users, the new charge is to commence on October 21, 2019.

The message reads: “Please note that from Oct 21, we will charge N4 per 20 seconds for USSD access to banking services. Thank you,” a notification sent by MTN to customers read.

FG reacts: orders suspension of the new USSD charges
Meanwhile, the federal government has reacted to the news on the new USSD charge.
In a statement released by, Uwa Suleiman, Spokesperson to the Minister of Communications, the Federal Ministry of Communications directed that the said new charges be suspended until the Hon. Minister is fully and properly briefed.
The statement reads, “The attention of the Federal Ministry of Communications has been drawn to the viral text message allegedly sent by the Mobile Network Operator, MTN Nigeria and other mobile operators notifying subscribers of an (N4.00) charge per 20 seconds on USSD access to banking services from the 21st of October 2019.

The office of the Hon. Minister of Communications Dr. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, FNCS, FBCS, FIIM is unaware of this development and has hereby directed the sector regulator, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) ensures the operator suspends such plans until the Hon. Minister is fully and properly briefed.”

Already, the development has elicited reactions from customers. Here are some of the reactions from Twitter.