(Eagle News) – Expect an eight-digit telephone number for all landline customers in Metro Manila and neighboring areas, or those with a “02” area code, starting March next year, according to the National Telecommunications Commission.
All telecommunications companies in the Philippines are covered by the NTC directive.
Globe Telecom Inc., and PLDT Inc., had already issued separate advisories announcing their intention to comply with the directive.
The only difference of this eight-number landline is the addition of an “identifier” number at the start of the existing seven-digit landline number.
This identified number is called a Public Telecommunication Entity (PTE) identifier by the NTC.
It is a prefix assigned by the NTC to a particular telco/service provider to preserve order and quickly identify to which company a number belongs.
NTC has assigned the following Public Telecommunications Entity (PTE) identifiers:
3000-YYYY to 3499-YYYY for Bayan Telecommunications, Inc.
7XXX-YYYY for Globe Telecom, Inc/Innove Comm Inc.
5300-YYYY to 5799-YYYY for ETPI/Telecomm Tech Phils Inc.
6000-YYYY to 6699-YYYY for ABS-CBN Convergence, Inc.
8XXX-YYYY for PLDT Inc.
Thus, the assigned identified number is 7 for Globe Landline, number 3 for Bayantel customers, and number 8 for PLDT landline numbers.
The telecommunications companies said that this move was in line with an earlier directive from the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) issued in October.
“This initiative is covered by a National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) memorandum order No.10-10-2017 dated last Nov 7, 2017.
This memo instructs telecom operators to expand telephone number range to 8-digit format. Due to this initiative, PLDT group will add 5.2M new numbers for its Home and Enterprise subscriber,” PLDT said in its advisory.
“PLDT services that will be affected are voice services with 02 area code. These are Direct lines, Trunklines, PLDT Landline Plus, Call All, FEX Lines, SIP trunks, ISDN and Vanity Numbers. Including virtual numbers like short-digit numbers, Toll-free (domestic, international and universal), Premium numbers such as embassy hotline and 1900 service hotline, #MyNumber. All of these are affected if they hold 02 area code as their terminating number,” PLDT said.
PLDT said that “for a period of three (3) months after migration (from Mar 18 – June 17, 2019) customer who will still incorrectly dial the old 7-digit number will hear a special announcement, that the number has been changed to 8-digit already.”
“After the special announcement is played, the call will be terminated. The customer needs to re-dial using the new 8-digit number.”
Globe said it will also have a three month transition period for the migration.
During this time, those who incorrectly dial the old number will also hear a special announcement on the new eight-digit format.
“The scheduled migration as agreed amongst NTC and the telecom providers is set on March 18, 2019, from 12:01 AM – 5 AM,” Globe said in its advisory.
“On March 18, 2019, from 12:01 AM – 5 AM, incoming and outgoing calls will temporarily be unavailable for all telephones numbers within the (02) area code. Specifically, the voice services for landline, voice over IP (Internet Protocol), Super Home Phone, DUO and emergency numbers will be affected during this period. Internet connection will remain uninterrupted,” it said.
Globe said it will make use of “hotline, social media, media announcements, email, and text to generate an awareness campaign to the general public at least 3 months before the migration.”
Globe said that the move is “to address the insufficient number of assignable exchange codes.”
