Page 202 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Technology, innovation and competition

ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services
Technology, Innovation and Competition

6.2.6 Country examples

Colombia

In Colombia, Daviplata – a low-cost mobile banking platform used primarily for G2P payments offered by
Banco Davivienda - implemented a dynamic menu via STK designed to simplify the UI and make it more
understandable by the target segments. As services increased, the number of SMS per update increased to
20 SMS per update. The MNOs, however, increased the cost to Daviplata from being a per-transaction charge
to a per-SMS charge. This meant that the cost of over a month’s usage of the mobile channel consumed
the entire commission that the bank received for managing the payments. Even simple balance enquiries
with no transactional revenue value cost the bank substantially in profits. The issue was referred to the
telecommunications regulator for review. 150

Kenya
Equity Bank complained of high STK access charges from market leader MNO Safaricom that made access
to its mobile banking products uneconomical. It built an MNVO called Equitel and used thin SIM to bypass
Safaricom, using instead cheaper STK from Safaricom competitor Airtel. 151

7 Short code access

7.1 Overview

As noted above, short codes then are the consumer’s primary access to USSD, STK or Interactive Voice Response
(IVR) DFS bearer channels. The usability of these primary bearer channels is usually dependent on what
specific codes the user must input into the mobile handset to allow them to access a service – the so-called
Man Machine Interfaces (MMIs). In the case of access to services relating to DFS, the MMIs are specific short
codes, which can be provider-specific or a generic single access number usable across all MNOs, meaning that
a specific number for a specific service is the same across all MNOs.
152
The short codes could manifest as 3, 4, 5, or even 6 digits the user will input to get direct access to a service,
or access to a gateway of menu items which give downstream access to a particular service. In some cases the
short code could be ‘split,’ prefaced with a 2 or 3 digit number mandated for DFS by the telecommunications
regulator or the central bank. That number is then followed by a star (*) entry, and then a 3 or 4 digital number
and then a hash (#) that is directed to a specific service or DFS SP.

7.2 Obtaining Short codes

Mobile phone and fixed line phone numbers are generally part of a national resource, usually controlled by the
telecommunications regulator as part of a national numbering plan based on the ITU-T E.164 specification.
153

150 Consultores. M (2015) Going Mobile with Conditional Cash Transfers Insights and Lessons from the payment of Familias en
Accion through DaviPlata wallets in Colombia, available at https:// goo. gl/ fsvyfZ
151 In the case of Equitel in Kenya, use of the shortcode *247# will divert the session to use the Airtel network. See Equitel (2016)
Get Activated, available at http:// www. equitel. com/ my- phone/ get- activated
152 Technically these are referred to as ‘Common Short Codes,’ usually cross carrier short numbers used to address USSD, SMS and
MMS messages from mobile phones or fixed lines.
153 Numbering plans may be part of the E.164 ITU Recommendation called the international public telecommunication numbering
plan that defines a numbering plan for the world-wide public switched telephone network (PSTN) and some other data networks.
E.164 defines a general format for international telephone numbers. Plan-conforming numbers are limited to a maximum of 15
digits, excluding the international call prefix. See ITU (2010) Recommendation E.164 (11/10), available at https:// www. itu. int/ rec/
T- REC- E. 164- 201011- I/ en

178