Have you ever wondered what USSD stands for? I mean the code you usually dial on your phone to either recharge your phone, pay your bills or even transfer money to another account.
Almost all the commercial banks in Nigeria have their USSD codes available to customers. This whole idea is to make transactions seamless. It simply means you don’t even need a smartphone or the Internet to carry out certain transactions.
USSD is the acronym for Unstructured Supplementary Service Data. It is a communications protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the mobile network operator’s computers.
On Monday, Grassroots.ng gathered that Carbon, the Pan-African digital financial services company, had introduced a USSD service to its platform.
According to Carbon, the essence is to make it even easier for individuals that have little or no access to smartphones or the internet, to access the financial services they need such as instant loans and easy-to-use payments.
This new service will allow existing Carbon customers to access instant loans and other payment solutions via USSD without requiring internet data. Prior to the launch of the USSD channel, Carbon’s financial services were only available to smartphone users via its Android and iOS apps.
Carbon is also launching simplified transaction processes for the new USSD functionality, that are faster and easier to use. Using the USSD code *1303#, customers (on MTN and 9Mobile) will now be able to quickly transact, encouraging more financial inclusion and making access to financial services possible in the absence of internet connectivity.
Despite being practically forgotten in many parts of the world, USSD continues to provide an effective and efficient channel for delivering much-needed financial services across Africa. Mobile phone penetration continues to rise on the continent1, providing a platform for much-needed fintech innovation, but the high cost of internet data2 and the prevalence of feature phones3 means many are still excluded from the benefits of mainstream financial services.
The new USSD channel will deepen Carbon’s market reach, allowing it to deliver innovative financial services to a wider range of consumers and giving them easier, quicker access to the funds and services they require to fulfil their needs.
According to Chijioke Dozie, CEO and co-founder of Carbon, “One of the biggest selling points of USSD is that it works with or without the internet, which is reassuring in the African context where internet data is expensive and inconsistent.
As fintech continues to develop across Africa, and ingrains itself into people’s everyday lives, it is important to invest and innovate across the ecosystem, ensuring that individuals are not excluded from the benefits of financial inclusion.”
Carbon’s new USSD channel will also enable airtime recharge and funds transfer for existing customers. Bill payments, loans and onboarding of new customers via USSD will be added to the platform very soon.