DoT mandates 0 prefix for all landline-to-mobile calls

The department of telecommunications (DoT) has made it mandatory to prefix 0 for all calls made from fixed lines to mobiles, effective 1 January, accepting the sector regulator’s suggestion.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) had in May recommended a ‘0’ prefix for all such calls to create sufficient numbering space for telecom service providers.

“Suitable announcement may be fed in the fixed-line switches to apprise the fixed-line subscribers about the requirement of dialling the prefix 0 for all fixed to mobile calls. This announcement should be played whenever a subscriber dials a fixed to mobile call without prefixing 0,” the DoT said in a notification.

The department has also asked telecom operators to furnish details of number series, both mobile and fixed-lines, allotted to them and the utilisation of the series. The details of the number series in each calendar year have to be submitted to the DoT by 15 January of the next year.

In the recommendations made in May, Trai had said a revised and new National Numbering Plan (NNP) should be issued at the earliest, and suggested ways to free up un-utilised capacities to create space for mobiles services. PTI