Telecommunication firms have begun to phase out old Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) short codes for new harmonized ones as directed by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC).
With this development, famous USSD codes such as *556# used by MTN subscribers are now outdated.
While MTN and 9Mobile have phased out their old USSD short codes entirely, some telecommunication firms are yet to do so.
Airtel, for instance, is still using old USSD codes, however, they are working simultaneously with the new ones.
Recall that NCC, in March 2023, approved and released harmonised short codes for certain mobile operations in the country.
The commission stated that this was aimed at achieving uniformity in common short codes across networks, allowing the code for checking airtime balance, for instance, to become the same across all mobile networks.
It gave the mobile network providers a deadline of May 17, 2023, to fully migrate to the harmonised codes.
NCC also explained that while the old and new harmonised short codes would run concurrently up until May 17, 2023, all networks are expected to have fully migrated to the new codes by its deadline.
The commission noted that, “Consequently, under the new harmonised short codes policy, 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.
“Also, 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 unsolicited messaging complaint management, while the common code, 3232, is also retained for porting services, otherwise called Mobile Number Portability (MNP).”
The NCC added that the initiative will make life much easier for telecom consumers since it will now become easier for consumers to memorize single codes for various services across all mobile networks they may be using.
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