The Nigerian Communications Commission on Tuesday threatened to sanction one of its licensed Value Added Service Operators, TextNigeria Limited, for diverting a short code allotted to it for political campaign without obtaining permission from the regulatory agency.
TextNigeria Limited had been involved in handling the fundraising for the All Progressives Congress Presidential Campaign through the use of Short Message Service platform on GSM networks utilising a short code allocated by NCC.
However, at a press conference addressed by three officials of NCC in Abuja on Tuesday, NCC said the VAS operator obtained the short code for Big Brother Nigeria/Africa in April 2013 and should have written to the agency if it wanted to use the code for anything other than the purpose for which it was obtained.
The regulatory agency said it was not wrong for any party to use the SMS platform to raise fund for political campaign but added that due process must be followed as the regulatory agency had insisted at all times.
Head of Enforcement of the NCC, Mr. Idehen Efosa, said NCC would follow the enforcement rules and sanction the TextNigeria Limited for diverting the short code allocated to it without prior notice to the agency.
A letter from Director, Technical Standards & Network Integrity at NCC, Dr. B.M. Sani, dated April 16, 2013, urged the Managing Director of TextNigeria Limited to ensure that the four short codes approved for it were used in accordance with the provisions of the Nigerian Communications Act, 2003 and the Guidelines on Short Code Operation in Nigeria.
The letter, titled Allocation of Short Codes, read in part, “The commission, having favourably considered your application, is pleased to inform you that short codes 20353, 38350, 35350 and 34350 have been allocated to your company for Samsung eWarranty, Sproxil Authentication, Big Brother Nigeria/Africa and Shared Code Services respectively.
“Please be informed that short code as well as all numbering resources is finite, hence, are considered a national scarce resource. As such, the commission expects that the short code will be put into active use and in a manner that will not cause service disruption to the national telephony network.”
Director of Public Affairs at NCC, Mr. Tony Ojobo, stated that a similar service had been approved for both President Goodluck Jonathan and Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State, prior to the general elections of 2011 after their clients had obtained the necessary approval.
Copyright: The Punch
