13-digit mobile numbers might come to India in July: What you need to know

The buzz today is that the Department of Telecom (DoT) has likely issued a directive stating that all the telecom operators in the country will have to start issuing mobile numbers with 13 digits to the subscribers. This news has been confirmed by a senior BSNL official, claims a PTI report. It is believed that this decision will provide better security features to the users.

The media reports suggest that the 13-digit numbering plan will be implemented only on the M2M (Machine-to-Machine) numbers from July 1, 2018. The existing mobile numbers will be ported to the new 13 digit numbers from October 1 and the last date for the process is likely to be December 31. It is said that from July 1, the new M2M mobile connections will be given 13-digit numbers. The existing 10-digit M2M numbers will be ported to 13 digits only from October 1.

Reportedly, the state-run operator BSNL has sent a letter to its partners Nokia Solutions Network and ZTE Telecom directing them to make sure the network elements such as IT and other systems implement the 13-digit numbering scheme starting from July 2018.

If this numbering scheme is implemented, then India will have the longest mobile numbers. We say so as China has 11-digit mobile numbers excluding the area code. Also, some French regions such as Martinique, Reunion, and Gaudeloupe have long numbers.

The Ministry of Communication has written a letter to TRAI reportedly stating that the 13-digit numbering method has been approved only for the SIM-based M2M devices. M2M SIM is the technology that lets devices and sensors to communicate with one another and with the Internet-enabled systems and devices. These SIMs can be used in phones as well.

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The potential issue is that the 13-digit mobile number will be difficult for one to remember resulting in a huge disruption in the business processes such as banks. It is said so as the banks have provisions only to capture 10-digit mobile numbers. Moreover, in India, there are over a billion active mobile users. And, with the mandatory Aadhaar and mobile number linking, the implementation of 13-digit mobile numbers will create a lot of chaos and confusion.