TRUtH BEHiND 2 DIGIT CODE IN SMS

Its more than a month that I was receiving promotional SMSs on my GMS number from various service providers and various utility services like Bill payments services, ICICI bank, SBI, Honda Motors but one thing I was noticing since last few days was, along with the company’s name in the sender field, I used to get a 2 digit Alpha code prefixed like AK-SBI, BM-ICICI. Have you ever wondered what are they? Recently I came across a release wherein I got to know that these 2 digit prefix are actually codes using which you can locate where the SMSs are originated from. The first alphabet reveals the operator name and the second alphabet on the code reveals area from where the message has been originated.

For example in an SMS I received “AK-SBI” then the 1st alphabet ‘A’ signifies that it is originated by Bharti Operator and the second alphabet ‘K’ reveals that the message has been originated from Kolkata.

Here is the complete list of the codes assigned to various operators and service areas:
Service Provider Code

Aircel, Dishnet Wireless D
Bharti Airtel A
BSNL B
BPL Mobile/Loop Telecom L
Datacom Solutions C
HFCL Infotel H
Idea Cellular I
MTNL M
Reliance Communications R
Reliance Telecom E
S tel S
Shyam Telecom Y
Spice Telecom P
Swan Telecom W
Tata Teleservices T
Unitech Group U
Vodafone V

Service Area Code
Andhra Pradesh A
Andhra Pradesh S
Bihar B
Delhi D
Gujarat G
Haryana H
Himachal Pradesh I
Jammu & Kashmir J
Karnataka X
Kerala L
Kolkata K
Madhya Pradesh Y
Maharashtra Z
Mumbai M
North East N
Orissa O
Punjab P
Rajasthan R
Tamil Nadu T
UP-East E
UP-West W
West Bengal V