The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has mandated Deposit Money Banks to begin deducting charges for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions directly from customers’ mobile airtime, rather than from their bank accounts.
This new directive was communicated to customers by the United Bank for Africa (UBA) via email on Tuesday. The change takes effect from June 3, 2025.
“In line with the directive of the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), please be informed that effective June 3, 2025, charges for USSD banking services will no longer be deducted from your bank account,” the statement read.
Under the NCC’s revised End-User Billing model, customers will now be charged ₦6.98 per 120 seconds for each USSD session. The fee will be billed directly by mobile network operators, and users will receive a prompt requesting consent before any deductions are made.
Customers who prefer not to use USSD banking under this model have the option to discontinue the service.
