Nigerian telecom operators are gradually addressing the N250 billion debt tied to unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) services. However, major tier-one lenders have yet to make significant progress in settling their dues.
According to the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), resolving this issue requires active collaboration between the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
Such cooperation is deemed critical to ensuring financial stability and operational efficiency in the telecom sector.
With smaller banks starting to pay their debts, telecom providers in Nigeria are making some headway in repaying the N250 billion debt associated with Unstructured Supplementary Service Data offerings.
The majority of the debt's tier-one lenders, however, have not yet made any sizable payments. This was disclosed to The PUNCH on Thursday by Gbenga Adebayo, the Chairman of the Association of Licensed Telecom Operators of Nigeria.