BREAKING: Banks Lift Blockage Of USSD Transactions On MTN Subscribers

Banks have reconnected MTN customers earlier denied access to the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) payment channels.

This development was confirmed in a letter signed by Karl Toriola, managing director and chief executive officer of MTN Nigeria, announced a decision to revert discount offered to banks on airtime sales to 4.5 percent commission.

It was learnt the development was due to intervention of Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Isa Pantami and Central Bank of Nigeria Governor Godwin Emefiele.

The banks blocked MTN subscribers, believed to be around 77millions accounting for about 45 per cent of the total telecommunication market share in Nigeria, with many of them stranded and unable to recharge airtime via USSD amid the Easter celebrations.

The blockade was due to reduction of banks’ commission from 4.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent by the telco.

SEE ALSO: MTN Launches Other Payment Platforms For Customers To Recharge Their Phones

The banks had written MTN to revert to the old commission, vowing to block MTN airtime in all their channels.

Meanwhile, OnyxNews Nigeria earlier reported that MTN had explored alternative electronic payment platforms such as Flutterwave, Jumia Pay, OPay, Kuda, Carbon and BillsnPay for customer to recharge their phones.