Market News

By Rotimi Agbana

Guaranty Trust Bank is joining other banks in adopting a new billing model for its Unstructured Supplementary Service Data banking transactions on Wednesday (today).

According to a message sent to customers, the N6.98 transaction fee will now be deducted from airtime balances, rather than bank accounts, starting today, June 18, 2025.

“Dear Customer, please be informed that effective 18 June 2025, the N6.98 USSD fee will be deducted from your airtime balance, no longer from your bank account. Thank you,” the message read.

This development reflects a broader industry realignment, mandated by the Nigerian Communications Commission, in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria, to resolve persistent disputes between telecom operators and banks over unpaid USSD service charges.

PUNCH Online reported that the NCC had directed Deposit Money Banks to start deducting charges for unstructured supplementary service data transactions directly from users’ mobile airtime.

Recall that in the past, banks billed customers via their bank accounts while automatically passing on USSD usage costs to telecom companies.

Telcos, however, protested that banks were profiting from the service yet delaying or avoiding payments for the infrastructure usage, leading to debts estimated at N250 billion by 2024.

To address this imbalance, the NCC introduced an End-User Billing model telling banks to remit debts and switch fees to airtime billing only after clearing historical obligations.

Under the new model, users will receive a prompt at the start of each USSD session, and the airtime will only be deducted upon confirmation, provided there is sufficient balance.