Reliance to shift to 10-digit numbers

Reliance India Mobile will be converting the mobile numbers of its Mumbai subscribers from the existing 8-digit to a 10-digit system around the end of October. The conversion of numbers of all the subscribers across the country to the 10-digit numbering plan will be completed by mid-November.

The company is converting the existing 8-digit numbers to the mobile standard of a 10-digit numbering system, beginning with 9, in a phased manner across the various circles.

So far, the new numbering system has been implemented across five circles, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh.

The company is starting the number change process in Tamil Nadu and Chennai from tomorrow. It takes 3-4 days on an average to change the number of all the subscribers in any circle. “We have a subscriber base of 80 lakh across the country.

People will no longer be charged a higher interconnect charge for calls to Reliance mobile phones.

Until now, some cellular operators like Hutch were levying a higher charge of 50 paise per minute for calls made from mobile phones to Reliance phones since their numbering system did not recognise the `non-9’ numbers as mobile phones.

For consumers, the advantage is that people calling them do not have to dial the prefix the city code anymore.

Also, for calls within the circle, say between Nagpur to Pune, an STD facility was required earlier although these calls were charged at the same rate as local calls. Now, customers can call directly without the STD facility.

The change to a new numbering system has been long delayed over the issue of change in points of interconnection (PoIs).

As a mobile operator, Reliance Info has to now have a connectivity at the LDCA (long distance charging area) level as compared to the SDCA (short distance charging area) level connectivity enjoyed by fixed-line operators.

After the conversion, Reliance numbers will start with `93’ instead of the `3’ that they start with now.

This will be followed by a 3-digit MSC code that varies from circle to circle. The last 5 digits, in most cases, will be the same as the last 5 digits of the existing number.

Post-paid subscribers are being given a choice to choose a new number if they so wish. Those with premium numbers would have a choice in choosing the new premium numbers.

Reliance Info will be using several mediums to convey the new numbers to their subscribers such as SMS, letters, R-World outlets, besides others.

Also, for a period of one month, both the old and the new numbers will remain active.