Looks like we are running out of mobile phone numbers in India. Cell phones came to India around 1995 and in a short 14 years we would have run out of 10 digit numnbers. Wow !!
By the middle of next year, one will have to dial 11 digits, instead of the current 10, to connect to mobile phone users across the country. And, `99’ will be the first two digits in every mobile number, in the 11-digit regime.
There won’t be any change in fixed line phone numbers. The Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), which is the technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), has finalised the report on national numbering plan, sources in the government told DNA Money. It is learnt that TEC submitted the national numbering plan report to DoT last week.
TEC has recommended a timeframe of six to nine months, for converting the existing 10-digit mobile numbers to the 11-digit format. The shift to 11-digit number will apply to all mobile users-GSM (global systems for mobile communications) and CDMA (code division multiple access), old and new subscribers.
It sure will be a pain to update all numbers in the cell phone directory.
