On Tuesday, March 14, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) directed all mobile network providers to begin the implementation of its newly approved harmonised shortcodes (HSC) to provide certain services to subscribers across Nigeria.
In a statement seen by Legit.ng, the NCC’s director of public affairs, Reuben Muoka, said the instruction to the network providers is in line with the commission’s consumer-centric approach to telecoms regulation in the country.
Muoka noted that the NCC has also set a deadline of May 17, 2023, for all mobile communications providers to fully migrate from the varying shortcodes to the harmonised ones, as he explained that the process aims to achieve uniformity in shortcodes across all networks.
He added that the migration implies ensuring that the codes for checking airtime balance, borrowing services, and credit recharge, among many others, are the same, irrespective of what network a mobile service consumer uses.
His words:
“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.”
Below is a list of the harmonised shortcodes for telecom mobile network consumers:
- Call Centre/Help Desk on all mobile networks: 300
- Voice Mail Deposit – 301
- Voice Mail Retrieval – 302
- Borrow Services – 303
- STOP Services – 305
- Check Balance – 310
- Credit Recharge – 311
- Data Plan across networks – 312
- Share Services – 321
- Data Plan Balance – 323
- Verification of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) Registration/NIN-SIM Linkage – 996
- Do-Not-Disturb (DND) unsolicited messaging complaint management – 2442
- Porting Services or Mobile Number Portability -3232
According to the NCC, the old and new shortcodes will run concurrently until the deadline for the final implementation of the harmonised ones.
The commission said:
“The period between now and May 17, 2023, is provided by the NCC to enable telecom consumers to familiarise themselves with the new codes for various services.
“In addition, the new policy will provide an 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.”
