{"id":288885,"date":"2024-04-01T17:33:39","date_gmt":"2024-04-01T12:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/?p=288885"},"modified":"2024-04-01T17:33:39","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T12:03:39","slug":"unstructured-supplementary-service-data-ussd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/unstructured-supplementary-service-data-ussd\/","title":{"rendered":"Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Source<\/strong>-This post on <strong>Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)<\/strong> is based on the article &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/economictimes.indiatimes.com\/industry\/telecom\/telecom-policy\/dot-asks-telcos-to-suspend-ussd-based-call-forwarding-switch-to-alternate-mode-from-apr-15\/articleshow\/108882510.cms?from=mdr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DoT asks telcos to suspend USSD-based call forwarding, switch to alternate mode from Apr 15<\/strong><\/a>&#8221; published in &#8220;<strong>The Economic Times<\/strong>&#8221; on 29th March 2024.<\/p>\n<h2>Why in the News?<\/h2>\n<p>The Department of Telecom has <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">directed telecom operators to deactivate USSD-based call forwarding by April 15<\/span> and transition to alternative methods for reactivation.<\/p>\n<p>The DoT noted that USSD-based call forwarding, particularly the *401# service for unconditional call forwarding, is being misused for inappropriate activities.<\/p>\n<h2>What is Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)?<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_288886\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-288886\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-288886\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Unstructured-Supplementary-Service-Data-USSD.png?resize=300%2C216&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)\" width=\"300\" height=\"216\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Unstructured-Supplementary-Service-Data-USSD.png?resize=300%2C216&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Unstructured-Supplementary-Service-Data-USSD.png?w=703&amp;ssl=1 703w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-288886\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source- PNGWING<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>1. About<\/strong>&#8211; It is a <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">communications protocol<\/span> <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">utilized in Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks for sending short text messages<\/span>. USSD is similar to Short Message Service (SMS).<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. USSD format:<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>a.<\/strong> A USSD message <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">usually begins with either an asterisk (*)<\/span> or <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">a hash symbol (#)<\/span> and <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">ends with a hash symbol (#). <\/span><br \/>\n<strong>b.<\/strong> These messages consist of digits for commands or data, often separated by additional asterisks.<br \/>\n<strong>c.<\/strong> USSD messages <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">can contain up to 182 alphanumeric characters<\/span>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Advantage over SMS<\/strong>&#8211; In contrast to SMS messages, USSD <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">establishes a real-time connection throughout a session<\/span>, enabling a two-way exchange of data sequences. This real-time connection makes USSD faster than SMS-based services.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Applications:<\/strong><br \/>\n<strong>a.<\/strong> Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) browsing, mobile money services, prepaid callback service, menu-based information services, and location-based content services.<br \/>\n<strong>b.<\/strong> It is<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"> used\u00a0to show balance deductions on mobile phones<\/span>, <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">with a notification appearing on the screen after a call<\/span> or <span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">outgoing SMS<\/span>.<br \/>\n<strong>c.<\/strong> It is also employed for checking IMEI numbers of mobile devices.<\/p>\n<p><strong>UPSC Syllabus- Science &amp; Technology<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Source-This post on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) is based on the article &#8220;DoT asks telcos to suspend USSD-based call forwarding, switch to alternate mode from Apr 15&#8221; published in &#8220;The Economic Times&#8221; on 29th March 2024. Why in the News? The Department of Telecom has directed telecom operators to deactivate USSD-based call forwarding by&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/unstructured-supplementary-service-data-ussd\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10367,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1566,1738],"tags":[11872],"class_list":["post-288885","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-daily-factly-articles","category-science-and-technology-daily-factly-articles","tag-9pm-daily-factly","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","views":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288885","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=288885"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/288885\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=288885"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=288885"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=288885"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}