New Delhi, 26 Nov: The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has made it mandatory to prefix 0 before a number for making landline to mobile calls, effective from January 1, 2021. The move comes after the sector regulator, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) recommended the move to create enough numbering space for telcos.
DoT in a notification said the fixed-line users will soon begin hearing the announcement apprising them of the move. The message will be played whenever a fixed-line user will dial to a mobile number without prefixing 0. “Suitable announcement may be fed in the fixed-line switches to apprise the fixed-line subscribers about the requirement of dialling the prefix 0 for all fixed to mobile calls. This announcement should be played whenever a subscriber dials a fixed to mobile call without prefixing 0,” the DoT notification said.
In the circular on ‘modification of dialling pattern from fixed line numbers to cellular mobile numbers’, DoT said the Trai’s recommendation dated March 29, 2020 have been accepted in order to “ensure adequate numbering resources for fixed line and mobile services””All the fixed-line subscribers should be provided with `0′ dialling facility, that is, STD dialling facility,” said the circular posted on DoT’s website.
The DoT has given all telecom service providers time to implement the new order till January 1, 2020. Compliance of the same may be intimated,” the DoT circular added. Trai, which made the suggestion in May, however clarified that the introduction of a dialling prefix for a particular type of call is not akin to increasing the number of digits in the telephone number. The telecom regulator earlier said the change in dialling pattern will generate 2,544 million additional numbering resources for mobile services for future use.
