If the Department of Telecommunications has its way, you could be spending the New Year’s day editing the contacts in your phonebook rather than actually calling your friends to wish them. A new DoT proposal plans to introduce an additional ’9′ prefix to the existing ten digits of mobile numbers.
The reason behind the introduction is said to be two-fold. Until recently, all mobile numbers in the country had a uniform format starting with the digit 9. However, in recent times that has changed partly because of the paucity of sufficient codes. Moving the mobile phone numbering system to eleven digits by prefixing an additional ’9′ will not only bring back the uniformity, but also ensure sufficient capacity to cater to the massively growing wireless subscribers population in the country.
While the intention behind the move cannot be questioned, the immediacy of the same has taken even mobile operators by surprise. Times Of India reports that many mobile network operators in the country have revealed that they are yet to receive any kind of directive regarding this change from DoT. However, that should not pose any trouble as the operators’ infrastructure is capable of incorporating the change with minimal resources and in quick time.
Nevertheless it is ironical that while regulatory authorities like DoT and TRAI have spent months mulling over issues that need much more immediate implementation, like MNP and 3G rollout, the present directive to increase the number of digits for mobile numbers to 11 has been done without much of a public debate. While there is no gainsaying the fact that this had to eventually happen sometime, a move such as this, in the absence of proper education among the subscribers, could only end in chaos and confusion.
What’s your take?
