The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) plans to request operators to disconnect the numbers of inactive mobile users, in an attempt to free up mobile numbers. According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), of 840 million mobile subscribers, only 588 million users are active.
However, operators continue to include the inactive users while determining their user base, thus blocking the numbers allocated to them. Moreover, the issue is compounded by the fact that the National Numbering Plan 2003, which is currently in use, is designed to accommodate 750 million connections, including 450 million mobile users. This system will be used until 2030.
This system has been overextended, as the number of mobile subscribers crossed the 750 million mark in 2009. Therefore, it is believed that DoT plans to allocate numbering resources, based on the active subscriber base and may consult TRAI on this matter as well.
The government is expecting the mobile user base to exceed 1 billion by 2014. However, the current numbering schemes do not contain sufficient numbers. Prior to this, DoT had suggested shifting the mobile numbering scheme to an 11-digit series, but this proposal was rejected by TRAI, on grounds that this would entail substantial costs for operators.
