In an effort to standardize services as per the National Numbering Plan, TRAI issued an order [PDF] today to migrate all Value Added Service SMS numbers to a uniform format of 5 digits starting with number “5”. For example you are aware of Indiatimes “8888” SMS service, henceforth it will be converted to “58888” or they have to lookout for a differnt number.
TRAI ruling said, five digit code starting with level 5 is to be used by access providers for allocation of short codes to their content providers including SMS based services within their network and accordingly all existing four digit short codes are to be prefixed by five to convert the same to five digit codes. Further the existing five and six digit short codes are to be migrated to five digit codes by replacing the first digit or first two digits respectively by five and so on.
Tags: Telecom India, SMS, Value Added Service SMS, Mobile
