Guaranty Trust Bank (GTBank) will begin deducting the N6.98 fee for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) transactions from customers’ airtime balances starting today, June 18, 2025.
The bank announced the change in a message to customers: “Dear Customer, please be informed that effective 18 June 2025, the N6.98 USSD fee will be deducted from your airtime balance, no longer from your bank account.”
This shift aligns with a directive from the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), aimed at resolving long-standing disputes between telecom operators and banks over unpaid USSD service charges.
Previously, banks deducted USSD fees directly from customers’ bank accounts, while telecom providers claimed they were left unpaid for network usage—leading to debts estimated at ₦250 billion by 2024.
To address the issue, the NCC introduced an End-User Billing model, requiring banks to pay off outstanding debts and transition to billing customers via airtime.
Under the new system, users will receive a prompt before any charges are made, and airtime will only be deducted upon confirmation and if the balance is sufficient.
GTBank is the latest in a growing number of Nigerian banks implementing the new model.