By Goth Mohamed Goth

Hargeisa-Somaliland Minister of Posts and Telecommunications Hon Mohamed Jama Abgaal speaking to the press in his office today revealed plans by the current government of Somaliland to soon roll out a new prefix numbering range for its landline and mobile subscribers in Somaliland different from the 252 STD/ISD country codes which the two countries are currently sharing.

“We have being engaging in consultation and arranging meetings with the local Telecom Operators to decide the way forward in finding an alternative to which Somaliland is part of it since the two countries are sharing the 252 STD/ISD country code, He said.

The Telecommunications Minister said, “Previous Minsters in this Ministry have in the past explored available numbering resources which Somaliland could use and will preferably be totally different from those provided from Mogadishu and we are going to liaise with ITU and other relevant international bodies in order to introduce a different prefixes numbers for both Mobile and Landline numbers. This is essential as Somaliland wants to manage its numbering resources separately from the rest of Somalia.

“All the necessary equipment is in place and will be setup and operated by already trained Somaliland citizens immediately upon the completion of the new premises which will be used as the Ministry headquarters which is currently under all Telecom operators in the country will then adhere and implement the new rules”, Hon Abgal said.

The numbering system current employed recently by local Telecom Operators recently makes them quite easily centralize their ‘routing’ and ‘switching’ resources in Somalia. As a result all incoming and outgoing calls will be routed outside Somaliland and can be tapped easily, which could have serious national security implications.

SomalilandPress.Com

 

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