The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has granted approval to Mobile Network Operators comprising MTN, Airtel, Globacom and 9mobile to disconnect the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) codes of nine commercial banks from their networks.

This follows years of complaints by the telecom operators over the non-payment of debt owed by the banks for the USSD service, for which the banks continue to charge their customers.

According to a notice issued on Wednesday by the NCC, the banks to be disconnected include First City Monument Bank (FCMB), Zenith Bank, Sterling Bank, Jaiz Bank, UBA, Polaris Bank, Unity Bank, Fidelity Bank and Wema Bank.

If the disconnection is implemented, millions of bank customers will not be able to carry out transactions using USSD.

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The banks, however, have been given a two-week grace to settle their debts with the telcos, failure upon which their codes will be disconnected.

“In fulfilment of its consumer protection mandate, the commission wishes to inform consumers that they may be unable to access the USSD platform of the affected financial institutions from January 27, 2025,” the commission said in the notice signed by its Director of Public Affairs, Reuben Muoka.

The telecom regulator noted that as of the close of business on Tuesday, 14th January 2025, of a total of 18 financial institutions, the 9 institutions listed above were the only ones that have failed to comply significantly with the directives in the Second Joint Circular of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Commission dated December 20, 2024, for the settlement of outstanding invoices due to MNOs, some since 2020.