Get current MCC/MNC from mobile phone number

Question

I would like to know how I would go about finding out the 'current' MNC from a UK mobile phone number?

I have given out a collection of numbers to companies, and they returned the "original MCC/MNC" & the "current MCC/MNC" codes, all checked out fine.

I would like to know how this was done in the first place? Its easy to find the original MCC/MNC codes, but I'm having trouble with the current MCC/MNC.

Answer 1

To obtain the current MCC / MNC (or NWC - Mobile Network Code) for a mobile number you can take a number of approaches. Based on your comment I'm going to combine a little background information also.

Getting the original MCC / MNC

This is relatively easy as long as you have a reliable source of data. The MCC is relatively simple to deal with as MCC's don't change all that often. MCC being the Mobile Country Code designated by ITU-T. MNC's are a little more tricky because they can change over time. The ITU-T also distributes these allocations and regularly publishes updates or should I say the GSMA does.

Getting current MCC / MNC

Here you have a number of factors to consider. One of them you have already mentioned. Here are some more possibilities:

• Mobile porting - Transfer of a mobile phone number from one operator to another
• Roaming - The mobile phone number is currently registered on a "foreign" mobile network

Both of these factors mean that just using the mobile phone number is not an option for finding out the current MCC / MNC. It is really a question of how accurate you need the information to be. And of course how much money you want to spend finding it out.

So finally to the original question. The short answer is no you do not have to be a member of ITU to have access to this information. The long answer is that you need access either to the ITU publications. As I recall the following are ways of obtaining the information you need:

1. GSMA (GSM Association) regularly publishes updates to NWC's (Mobile Network Codes) in document form. This together with numbering schemes for every country using GSM networks.
2. Neustar (http://www.neustar.biz) provides an API which you can query for the currently registered (non-roaming) mobile phone numbers. They also provide portability information which is updated at various rates depending on country and operator. Effectively they are the root of all portability information for the GSMA.
3. Some mobile operators for example Deutsche Telekom in Germany provide an API to obtain daily updated portability information for the whole of Germany.
4. Companies with SS7 connectivity (basically the GSM cloud where mobile operators interoperate) can query realtime the mobile phone numbers current network registration. This also includes whether the mobile phone number is roaming or not.

This information is priceless for many companies and GSMA rightly so ensures that only companies and people who can responsibly manage this information are allowed to obtain it.