11-digit subscribers can last for 2 more years

The leader of the Ministry of Information and Communications said the conversion time for mobile subscribers to 10 numbers will take place within 2 years, after completing the planning of fixed area codes.

Explaining the new telecommunications numbering plan, according to which all mobile subscribers will only have 10 numbers, the Ministry's leader said that the conversion of current 11-digit subscribers will be carried out by replacing some mobile numbers with some current fixed numbers (which will no longer be used when re-planning the area codes).

Specifically, mobile subscribers with prefixes 166, 122, 199, 188... will be switched to using prefixes planned for current fixed services such as 50, 40, 70, 80... The national prefix (0) and the last 7 digits of the mobile subscriber will remain the same as current.

Mobile subscribers with prefixes 0166, 0122 will be switched to using prefixes 050, 040... Photo: Anh Quan

A representative of the Ministry of Information and Communications said the conversion will take place after the planning of area codes for fixed services is completed. Therefore, the Ministry's leaders said that in about 2 years, the conversion of mobile subscribers from 11 digits to 10 digits will be implemented.

Regarding the reason for the change, the Ministry of Information and Communications explained that according to the old plan, the management agency reserved 7 numbers for the fixed network and 2 numbers (1 and 9) for mobile. However, the strong development of mobile phones has shown that this plan is ineffective, especially in the management and use of mobile phones. In the long run, this leads to a shortage of mobile numbers and an excess of fixed numbers.

Therefore, the re-planning is explained by the Ministry's leaders as aiming to resolve the above shortcomings but with the least impact on customers. The management agency will reserve 8 numbers for mobile use, leaving only one number for fixed services.

Previously, 11-digit subscribers were officially granted by the management agency to network operators since 2007. However, up to now, the Ministry of Information and Communications has determined that, according to recent statistics, the efficiency of using 3-digit mobile network codes (starting with 1xx) is much lower than that of 2-digit codes (starting with 9x). In addition, the rate of phone subscribers using 1xx network codes leaving the network is quite high. Spam SIMs, spam messages... also mainly arise from 1xx network codes. Therefore, converting 1xx network codes to new 2-digit network codes not only creates fairness in dialing length for service users but also contributes to limiting the rate of subscribers leaving the network, contributing to limiting spam SIMs, spam messages...

Based on the issued Circular on telecommunications number planning, the management agency will carry out tasks related to changing subscriber numbers. According to the Decree guiding the Telecommunications Law, when changing subscriber numbers, telecommunications enterprises must notify subscribers 60 days in advance through mass media. Circular 22 will take effect from March 1, however, the management agency will have to calculate the conversion roadmap and there is no specific deadline for implementation.

According to Vnexpress