New numbering series introduced for service, transactional voice calls
Since 140xx series is being used extensively for promotional calls, consumers normally do not respond to such calls and many important service/transactional calls are missed, says DoT
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The Centre on Thursday introduced a new numbering series, 160xxxxxxx, for making service or transactional calls, to help citizens easily identify legitimate calls and curb unsolicited voice calls from telemarketers using 10-digit mobile numbers.
Currently, 140xxxxxxx series has been allocated to telemarketers for making promotional/service/transactional voice calls.
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) said in a statement that since the 140xx series is being used extensively for promotional calls, "consumers normally do not respond to such calls and many important service/transactional calls are missed".
"This has resulted in wide use of regular 10-digit numbers by genuine entities for making service/transactional calls. This also gave opportunity to fraudsters to deceive consumers using 10-digit numbers," the DoT added.
To address this, the DoT has allocated a new numbering series, 160xxxxxxx which will exclusively be used for service/transactional voice calls by the Principle Entities.
This clear differentiation between service/transactional calls versus other types of calls will make it easier for citizens to manage their communication.
