Five-digit SMS code mandatory

The government has mandated that all telecommunication companies in the country move over to 5-digit SMS short codes, discontinuing the existing 4-digit and 6-digit codes. It is also asking all operators using 4-digit short codes to prefix '5' and convert them to 5-digit codes.

All the existing 5- and 6-digit short codes also have to be migrated to 5-digit codes by replacing the first digit or first two digits with '5'. In case of disputes, the DoT would be the final authority for the allocation, sources in DoT told Business Standard here today.

This would be with immediate effect from the date of a guideline (December 1, 2006) that is being issued by the ministry of telecommunications and IT to all operators, telecom companies and content providers. The ministry has begun issuing the guidelines through the licensor, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

However, the government would also be providing a cooling-off period, with the present short code users would be allowed to use their existing short codes for another six months.

The move is to standardise the short-code SMS in the country, and under a clause in the National Numbering Plan 2003 issued by DoT, certain numbers were earmarked for certain services. According to industry analysts, this order could affect over 50 short codes, of which 20 are short-code-based SMS numbers.

Some of the popular short-code-based SMS services include IndiaTimes' 8888, Dainik Bhaskar's 7333, Jagran Prakashan's 7272, Dial Net's 7777, Rediff's 7333, Business Standard's 7007 and Sahara India's 9090.

Consumers messaging these numbers can get a variety of information and downloads like ringtones, news clips, passport status, flight schedules, railway reservation status and cricket scores. A message to these numbers is levied a higher charge than normal ones. For instance, charge for downloading a song can be as high as Rs 45.

Now these numbers will have a 5 prefix to it, while the most popular 6-digit SMS short code - 676747 - for railway enquiries will undergo a major change. When contacted services providers said that short-codes had a remarkable recall value as most of the numbers were fancy numbers like 8888 or 7777.

Now the numbers will lose this benefit. There could also be a considerable amount of confusion as certain new numbers are already in use.

Moreover, as short codes were used for customer-oriented services, these were advertised over billboard, posters and notices across the country. Changing these advertisements will itself cost a loss of crores of rupees to the service providers.

Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) Secretary General T V Ramachandran said the name poses unnecessary hazzles and the association is mulling of taking up with the government.