BREAKING: Banks Unblock MTN After 48Hrs, Reconnect Customers To USSD
According to a report by NEWS DIRECT, commercial banks reconnected MTN customers to banking networks on Sunday after disconnecting them for 48 hours, including the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data and banking apps.
The development is said to have occurred as a result of the involvement of Isa Pantami, Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, and Godwin Emefiele, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
According to NEWS DIRECT, banks blocked MTN customers on Friday, causing millions of MTN subscribers to be disappointed because they were unable to recharge airtime via USSD during the Easter holiday.
MTN is arguably Nigeria’s largest telecommunications provider, with approximately 77 million subscribers and about 45 percent of the overall telecommunication market share.
When the telco cut the banks’ commission from 4.5 percent to 2.5 percent, the blockade occurred. The banks had written to MTN, demanding that they return to the old commission system, otherwise they would block MTN airtime across all of their networks.
Except for Zenith Bank, which was directly linked to MTN, the banks barred MTN from their banking networks, leaving millions of customers stranded because they couldn’t recharge virtually.
For customers to recharge their phones, MTN investigated alternative electronic payment channels such as Flutterwave, Jumia Pay, OPay, Kuda, Carbon, and BillsnPay.
More details later…
