VAS Players Get Till December 31st To Switch To 5 Digit Short Code
Deadlines, as we all know, are prone to being extended: Telecom Value Added Services (VAS) companies who were earlier asked to switch to a five digit format as a part of the “National Numbering Plan”, have been given a breather – Business Standard reports that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has extended the deadline to December 31. Now this move allows companies that have been promoting their short codes as brands (Star India’s 7827, Indiatimes’ 8888) some more time to rebrand. But what’s the benefit of making this switch? Will it bring costs down? How will consumers benefit?
short codes as brands? says who? check this:
For star services….hutch, airtel customer dials 5057827, BSNL users dial 127827, sms services on 7827…
there goes the brand… and the code… !
Thumbs up to DoT on their 5 digit regime… and i say this more from the media co's viewpoint. !
reason? simple… dial or sms 58888 for indiatimes services… now that's when the media co will be able to create a single identity for their service… whether or not it shapes out into a brand, is incidental…
then there is the other fundamental question… how short is the short code..?
take this 505782728… for south star channels… a 9 digit code?? and we call that short? .. in an endeavour to safeguard the interest of the stakeholders of the value chain… (tech partner, media house, etc)….aren't we compromising on the customer experience?
thus, a simple 58888 on sms and voice make life easy for the customer… !
that's the "long" and "short" of it i guess.. :-)
Hi
this is a good initiative from DoT to have a standard 5digit short code for all the external content prviders and media companies – making every thing simple for the users –
but what is final 5th digit is fixed or open for the media co to choose from . – is the 5th digit should be placed earlier or later – say 57827 or 78275
cheers
This is not a wise move for nascent VAS industry of India. The rationale behind
such a move can't be to have more no. of shortcodes as with fixed first digit as
"5" the permutations and combinations will not change.
On the other hand calling 5 digit no. a shortcode is itself ironical.