India had suggested moving fixed line numbers

CDMA mobile Phone subscriptions growth slowing, the Department of Telecom India is planning to allow GSM company to share the mobile phone number series starting with 92 and 93. At present, the 92 mobile phone number series is used by Tata Teleservices company and the 93 series is used by Reliance Communications company for CDMA mobile services. Under a new numbering scheme proposed by the DoT, all fixed line phones number will start with digits 2 and 4 only. This means phone numbers starting with 5, 6 and 3 will be shifted in a phased manner. Currently, fixed line tele phone number series starting with 3 is used by phone subscribers of Reliance Communications company, 6 belongs to Tata Teleservices company and 5 has been allocated to HFCL and Sistema Shyam company. While the phone number series starting with 2 is currently exclusively used for phone subscribers of BSNL and MTNL, Bharti Airtel users are on the series starting with 4. But the DoT reckons that there is enough capacity on these two number series to accommodate all the other operators. This is being done to free up numbers for the growing GSM phone number subscriber base. The current numbering system was designed for 750 million connections. The numbering system was supposed to last till 2030, but it came under severe strain with mobile numbers crossing the mark in year 2OO9 itself. The new proposal is expected to free up over 2,700 million new phone numbers.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had suggested moving fixed line numbers to a 10-digit series. But the DoT has rejected this proposal on grounds that it would require a lot of changes in the fixed-line exchanges in india, in the way calls are routed, and also in the billing software. The Department has now sent its plan to the Telecom Regulatory Authorityof India for comments.

Source: The Hindu Business Line