Telecom Regulator Authority of India (TRAI) has consider the views on increasing the digits in a mobile phone number from 10 to 11. As, at present it is one of the options to address rising demand for telecom connections in line with growing population.
The government has already started 13-digit number series for Internet of Things (IoTs) and machine to machine communications. According to TRAI, around 2.6 billion more numbers would be required to cater to need of the country by 2050.
According to a report from UN, India is visualized and has potential to become the most populous country by 2027 surpassing China, and host 1.64 billion people by 2050. There are 1.2 billion telephone connections in the country.
TRAI in its consultation paper on “Developing a unified numbering plan” for fixed line and mobile services said that even if it is assumed that there will be 200 per cent wireless telecom density in India in 2050, the number of mobile telephones working in this country is likely to be nearly 3.28 billion.
- Including moving on to 11 digit numbering scheme for mobile and continuing with 10 digit numbering for fixed line services,
- Shifting data only mobile numbers (like dongle connections) from 10 digits to 13 digit numbering,
- Vacating number series start from 3, 5 and 6, etc.
The current provision of 10-digit mobile numbers starting with 9, 8 and 7 have a total capacity to grant 2.1 billion connections.