MTN’s tiff with banks impact on subscribers
Millions of subscribers of MTN Nigeria have been on the receiving end in the quarrel between the telecommunication and commercial banks.
The dispute have been over Value Added Service (VAS) aggregators and banks over commission fee.
This has led to a restriction of the unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) channels services offered by the aggregators to bank customers.
Aggregators (middlemen) are entities that provide a single platform through which VAS providers may access the services of network operators. VAS involves the provision of value added mobile/fixed services including premium rates services which are centered on entertainment, marketing, advertising, and commerce.
Examples of these services include airtime, text messages, picture messages, ring tones, graphics, games, multimedia, call center and call directory. There are about 233 companies licenced by the NCC to act as VAS aggregators in the telecommunications industry.