All mobile numbers in India starts with 9, 8, 7 and 6. This includes pager services, but the use of pagers is on the decline. Each telecom circle is allowed to have multiple private operators, earlier it was 2 private + BSNL/MTNL, subsequently it changed to 3 private + BSNL/MTNL in GSM, now each telecom circle has more than 10 operators including BSNL/MTNL.
All mobile phone numbers are 10 digits long. The way to split the numbers is defined in the National Numbering Plan 2003, as XXXX-NNNNNN. Where XXXX indicates the network operator and the telecom circle, there NNNNNN is the subscriber numbers.
Telecom circles
The Department of Telecommunications has divided India into various telecom circles such that within each circle, the call is treated as a local call, while across zones, it becomes a long-distance call. A telecom circle is normally the entire state, with a few exceptions like Mumbai and Kolkata (which are different zones than their respective states), Goa (which is a part of the Maharashtra zone), Chhattisgarh (which is part of Madhya Pradesh), Sikkim (which is part of West Bengal) Jharkhand (which is a part of the Bihar zone) or Uttar Pradesh (divided into east and west zones). Delhi is a unique circle because it includes towns from Haryana (Gurgaon and Faridabad) and Uttar Pradesh (Noida and Ghaziabad) as well. Recent formation of the new state of Telangana has been separated from Andhra Pradesh state which will still remain in the same circle.
From May 20, 2005, calls between
- Mumbai Metro and Maharashtra Telecom Circle,
- Chennai Metro and Tamil Nadu Telecom Circle,
- Uttar Pradesh (East) and Uttar Pradesh (West) Telecom Circle Service Areas
are merged in Inter service area connectate in the above-mentioned four States would be treated as intra-service area call for the purposes of routing as well as Access Deficit Charges (ADC). The dialing procedure for calls within a State for these States would also be simplified i.e. dialling of mobile-to mobile subscribers and fixed-to-mobile subscribers would be without prefixing '0'.
At present, there are 22 telecom circles or service areas. They are classified into 4 categories: Metro, A, B, C. Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata fall under Metro category. Chennai service area doesn't come under Metro category, as it has been a part of Tamil Nadu service circle since 2007.
Network Operators
9xxx Series
- Note:- The mobile numbers and operators are subject to change since Mobile number portability is available in most circles.
- Note:- The Series of BSNL GSM (Cellone) 9473 are available in Bihar (94730 to 94734) and U.P. East (94735 to 94739) Telecom Circle.
8xxx Series
7xxx Series
See also
- Telephone numbers in India
References
External links
- Allocation (allotment) of new mobile number series (MSC codes) from National Numbering Plan, Department of Telecommunications, Government of India
