Looking at the swelling subscriber base of mobile users in India, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is expected to run out the 10-digit mobile numbers and the telecom authority is in view of an 11-digit numbering system.
According to a Zee News report, the DoT will soon issue the 11-digit mobile numbers for mobile phone operators.
The telecom department had planned a 30-year numbering plan for mobile numbering system back in 2003. But with the rapid increase in telecom subscribers, the department has obligatory to re look into the telecom policy and go for an 11-digit numbering system.
Every telecom operator receives a series of mobile numbers for six months or a year as per the requirement basis depending on the customer base it has. However, the requirement of the mobile number series has grown rapidly in past years. Hence, the mobile number series crisis is heading towards the country.
On the other hand, the mobile user base in India has declined slightly to 103.42 crores at the end of July 2016, from 103.51 crores in June as per the TRAI report. The marginal decline was caused primarily due to the losing subscriber base of telecom operators such as Tata Teleservices and Reliance.
The total telecom customer base including the wireless and wireline connections towards the end of July 2016, positioned at 105.88 crores. The figures are down 1.01 percent from the 105.98 crores towards the end of June 2016, TRAI added.
Reliance communications had lost a huge 32.4 lakh customers during the July’s month-on-month decline, while Tata Teleservices and Sistema lost around 6.9 lakh and 2.3 lakh subscribers, respectively in the same month.
On contrary, Bharati Airtel added 10.7 lakh new subscribers and reached its total subscriber base to 25.68 crores. Vodafone added 3.3 lakh new users and reached its total subscriber base to 19.9 crores, while Idea added 2.6 lakh new subscribers taking its subscriber base to 17.64 crores towards the end of July 2016.
Aircel added 4 lakh, new customers. Telenor added 19,049 subscribers. And the state-run telcos- BSNL and MTNL added 1.17 million and 6,730 new subscribers, respectively in the said month.
