The Hindu Business Line : Cell operators told to use 5-digit short code

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday instructed all telecom operators and content providers to use five-digit short codes starting with the number five for offering SMS-based value-added services.

"All existing four-digit short codes are to be prefixed by the number five. Further, the existing five- and six-digit short codes are to be migrated to five-digit codes by replacing the first or first two digits by five and so on," said a TRAI release.

Operators use short codes like `67333' (Rediff) and `8888' (Indiatimes) for offering a variety of applications including downloading ringtones, contests, quizzes, polls, information and enquiry services, entertainment, SMS games, astrology and cricket updates.

The TRAI move comes after the Department of Telecom decided that the current series of short codes being used were not adhering to the National Numbering Plan.

These short codes have been a major revenue churner for mobile operators and content providers because they are categorised as premium service and the charge is Rs 6 per SMS.

The TRAI had earlier asked access providers to stop use of these short codes completely through a direction on July 31, 2006.

It had said that operators could only use short codes that start with any number except 0,1,7,8 and 9.

Subsequently, this issue was examined by the DoT.

The TRAI has sought compliance of the DoT guidelines by all access providers by May 31, 2007.

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