The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) has asked the DoT to consider adopting 11 digit numbers for mobile connections to be prepared for the rapidly growing subscriber base.

The industry body has written to the Telecom Secretary, PJ Thomas regarding the same. It says, “Eleven digit numbering scheme is imminent to meet longterm requirement of mobile services and new services like PSTN connected internet telephony.”

According to AUSPI, the 11-digit numbering scheme would cause minimum disturbance for subscribers through pre-fixing “9” on all existing mobile numbers.

“The shift would provide innumerable new numbers which would be sufficient to meet the numbering resources requirement for all times to come. Besides, it has low cost implication and short time line for implementation,” it said.

AUSPI said the use of number ‘7’ in the numbering plan should not be considered as it is disruptive to the current numbering plan and may cause more inconvenience o consumers.