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Telcommnications operators (Telcos) under the aegis of the Association of Licensed Telecoms Operators of Nigeria (ALTON), have threatened to drag Nigerian banks to court over the unpaid Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), which has accumulated over the years and has reached N130 billion as at September this year. Chairman of ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, who disclosed this during an interview at the weekend, said the telecoms operators decided to take the option of legal battle as the last resort, after several failed attempts to resolve the issue. Adebayo said the issue of unpaid USSD debt was part of its submission to the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, Dr. Bosun Tijani, when ALTON visited the Minister in Abuja last week. According to him, the Minister was displeased with the issue of unpaid USSD debt that has lingered for too long without concrete resolution, and advised Telcos to have an Independent Think-Tank that would look at the issues surrounding telecoms operations in Nigeria and develop empirical data that would best explain the economic implications of the challenges. “The issue of USSD debt was discussed with the Minister, and he was quite concerned and worried that the matter has lingered for too long unresolved.
THISDAY