Nigeria Mobile Operators to Bar Text Service for Banks Over $259 Million Debt
- Mobile network providers to disconnect lenders from Monday
- Banks, telcos dispute pricing method for USSD services
An attendee uses a smartphone during a conference in Lagos, Nigeria.
Photographer: Benson Ibeabuchi/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Mobile-phone operators in Nigeria including MTN Group Ltd. and Airtel Africa Plc will stop providing dedicated text message services to banks until the lenders pay 120 billion naira ($259 million) in arrears.
The operators will disconnect the so-called Unstructured Supplementary Service Data based on their contracts with the lenders, Gbenga Adebayo, chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria said in a telephone interview on Monday. Some banks will be disconnected as early as today, he said.