Telecom regulator Trai on Sunday said it has not recommended 11 digit mobile numbers but only suggested prefixing ‘0’ when mobile numbers are called from landlines.
The recommendation on prefixing ‘0’ for calls from fixed line to mobile numbers will generate 2,544 million additional numbering resources for mobile services to cater to the future requirements, it said. As per Trai recommendation, the country will continue to follow a 10-digit numbering for mobile services, and the regulator has “categorically rejected” shifting to an 11-digit mobile numbering plan.
“Trai has not recommended 11-digit numbering scheme for mobile services,” the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in a statement. Trai has recommended a dialling prefix ‘0’ while making a call from a fixed line number to mobile number, the statement said, adding that introduction of a dialling prefix for a particular type of call “is not akin to increasing the number of digits in the telephone number”. “This change in dialling pattern will generate 2,544 million additional numbering resources for mobile services to cater to the future requirements,” it added. The regulator on Friday had said that migration to a unified or single numbering scheme for fixed line and mobile services is not required for now and that sufficient numbering space can be created by various methods, including prefixing ‘0’ for all fixed to mobile calls.