The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) on Monday directed mobile network operators (MNOs) to commence implementation of approved harmonized short codes (HSC) for providing certain services to telecom consumers in Nigeria in furtherance of its consumer-centric approach to telecoms regulation in the country.
The Commission, in a statement issued by its Director, Corporate Communications, Rueben Muoka, had already set a deadline of May 17, 2023, for all MNOs to fully migrate from the hitherto diverse short codes to the harmonised codes.
According to the commission, the use of harmonised short codes is aimed at achieving uniformity in common short codes across networks. This means that the code for checking airtime balance is the same across all mobile networks for the same function, irrespective of the network a consumer uses.
With the new codes, the telecom consumers using the over 226 million active mobile lines in the country, can now use the same codes to access services across the networks.
As a result of the development, under the new harmonised short codes regime, 13 common short codes have been approved by the Commission. They include the following codes: 300 to be used as the harmonised code for Call Centre/Help Desk on all mobile networks; 301 for voice Mail Deposit; 302 for Voice Mail Retrieval; 303 for Borrow Services; 305 for STOP Service; 310 for Check Balance, and 311 for Credit Recharge.
In addition, the statement indicates that the common code for Data Plan across networks is now 312. In line with the new direction, 321 is for Share Services, while 323 is for Data Plan Balance. The code, 996, is now for Verification of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration/NIN-SIM Linkage. The code, 2442, is retained for Do-Not-Disturb (DND) unsolicited messaging complaint management, while the common code, 3232, is also retained for Porting Services, otherwise called Mobile Number Portability.
The NCC further stated that the old and new harmonized short codes would run concurrently up until the May 17, 2023, when all networks were expected to have fully migrated to full implementation of the new codes.
It stated that the period between now and May 17, 2023 was provided by the NCC to enable telecom consumers to familiarize themselves with the new codes for various services.
The initiative, which is in line with NCC’s regulatory modernisation programme, is essentially to make life much easier for telecom consumers, as it is now easier for Nigerians to memorize single codes for various services across all mobile networks they may be using, thereby improving consumer quality of experience (QoE).
Similarly, the commission maintained that the new policy would provide opportunity for licensees in the Value-Added Services (VAS) segment of the telecoms sector to be able to use freed-up/old codes for other services, as well as enhance cohesive regulatory framework in keeping with world-class practices.
