The pace of growth of India’s mobile phone use is clear from the fact that the department of telecommunications has exhausted cell phone numbers beginning with 9. But Soon, mobile phone companies are expected to issue cell phone numbers beginning with 8 as the first number. The cellular operators will hereinafter get the 95 sub-level number, which is originally meant for STD or trunk calls, as a follow up of DoT’s instruction to invalidate the 95 from the landline operation.
DoT is on the process of allocating nearly 10 crore numbers for the need, out of which 50% will be kept reserve by DoT itself. TRAI estimates that as of now, there are 415 million cellular subscribers which was 277 million during the same period last year. Anticipating the ongoing growth rateand demand, DoT is contemplating to launch 11 digit series.
