Phone: Practical Issues About New Numbering Plan

10 years, 10 months ago - May 27, 2013

The current numbering plan has reached its limits in terms of capacity (about 8 million numbers for both mobile numbers and landlines) and is more in line with the rapid development of mobile networks has grown steadily in recent years.

With 1,485,800 mobile subscribers in December 2012, against 1,294,100 in 2011 and a penetration rate of mobile phone 114, 86% in 2012, a new numbering plan that is necessary to enable innovation. It is argued that this new numbering plan of 8 digits for all fixed and mobile networks to generate 80 million and 10 million numbers to numbers using a mobile network.

According to the Information & Communications Technology Authority (ICTA), this migration has several advantages. Thus, the transition to 8 digits will allow subscribers to retain their mobile phone numbers. So far, a number that is not used for a certain period is placed "under quarantine" by operators, followed by deactivation, to be subsequently allocated to another user. With migration, it is possible to preserve life and his phone number. "Migration is a key to the Mobile Number Portability step (mobile number portability)," says ICTA.

The numbering plan to eight digits for only the users of mobile networks and users in a fixed position on a mobile phone operating system. It will necessarily add '5 'and that from midnight on September 1, 2013, otherwise the call will fail, says ICTA. The emergency numbers, such as 115, will remain unchanged.

Changing the numbering plan involves practical issues and constraints. There is the fear of losing their contacts abroad. It is thus necessary to inform all subscribers, especially those who are abroad, add a '5 'before the mobile number from 1 September 2013, at midnight and change cards, among others. Users will also change all the numbers one by one by adding the prefix '5 'existing numbers. This can be a binding or long especially for those who have a busy year address book.

ICTA, aware of these issues started yesterday, a countdown of 100 days to prepare the public for this important change in the press, posters, billboards and leaflets through an intense campaign awareness. This so that the change applies to all mobile operators happens without hiccups. "The strategy is to minimize these risks where the result of a communication campaign so that users prepare for the migration," says the authority is confident of the reliability of this campaign. The authority has also organize outreach sessions for the population in order to raise awareness.

The number "5" will be the new prefix will be added to the existing seven numbers listed in the table below and that, from September 1, 2013 at midnight.

Existing seven-digit numbers corresponding numbers to eight digits after September 1, 2013 (00:00)

25x-xxxx                  525x xxxx
29x-xxxx                  529x -xxxx
421-xxxx                  5421-xxxx
423-xxxx                 5423-xxxx
428-xxxx                 5428-xxxx
429-xxxx                 5429-xxxx
44x-xxxx                  544x-xxxx
471-xxxx                  5471-xxxx
479-xxxx                 5479-xxxx
49x- xxxx                 549x-xxxx
70x-xxxx                  570x-xxxx
79x-xxxx                  579x-xxxx
82x- xxxx                 582x-xxxx
86x- xxxx                 586x-xxxx
871-xxxx                  5871-xxxx
875-xxxx                  5875-xxxx
878-xxxx                 5878-xxxx
90x-xxxx                  590x-xxxx
98x-xxxx                  598x-xxxx

Text by Le Mauricien

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