Add A ‘0’ Prefix For Landline To Mobile Calls From January 1

Earlier this year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released the latest recommendations for a 'Unified Numbering Plan'. This makes sure there are adequate numbering resources for landline or fixed-line and mobile services. As a result of the same, current phone numbers will require a '0' prefix when dialed from a fixed-line connection.

'0' Prefix For Landline To Mobile Calls

Now, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has made it mandatory to prefix 0 before making a call to a mobile phone from a landline. This new mandate will be effective from January 1, 2021. The fixed-line users will hear the announcement regarding the move as well. It has been announced that the message will be played so that users who dial a mobile number from a landline sans a '0' prefix.

A DoT notification claim says that a suitable announcement might be fed in the fixed-line switches to advise the subscribers of fixed-line connections to add a 0 prefix. In a circular regarding the modification of the dialing pattern from landline numbers to mobile numbers, the recommendation of TRAI dating back to March this year has been accepted to make sure there is adequate numbering resources for both the services (fixed-line and mobile).

Well, having said that telecom service providers have to implement the message and this new mandate, DoT has given them time for the same until January 1, 2021. It has been noted in the circular that compliance of the same may be intimated.

However, it has been clarified by TRAI back in May this year that the introduction of a 0 prefix for a specific type of call is not similar to increasing the number of digits in the telephone number. Earlier this year, the telecom regular stated that the change in the dialing pattern will generate as many as 2,544 million additional numbering resources for mobile services meant for future use.