Although, fixed lines represent only 0.13 per cent of the total telephone subscription in Nigeria, there are, however, plans that all fixed subscriber numbers will be migrated from seven to a 10-digit number like the mobile counterpart.
According to the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) in the “Development Of A New Numbering Plan for Nigeria,” the draft final report released on Monday, the present numbering plan and specific assignment being utilised by the mobile service will be maintained in the newly-developed numbering plan for the nation.
The Commission said there will be no need for any changes in number length, operator codes or service codes. Consequently there is no need for any migration plan for all numbers being issued by the mobile operators to their subscribers.
But NCC said a new service identification code (0)2 is recommended for assignment to fixed services in replacement of various digits assigned as area codes in the present geographic numbering system.
According to the Commission, this is mainly to differentiate fixed services from mobile services for billing purposes since fixed services have different termination rates, adding that fixed services billing is dependent on the distance from the originating caller to the terminating (receiver) equipment.
“Where the rate is not distance-dependent, then area codes are used only for routing purposes. Presently, the Nigerian fixed network uses a geographic numbering scheme where different geographical zones are represented by area codes.
“The fixed network number also consists of eight digits including subscriber number and area code. In order to keep to our closed numbering scheme, all fixed subscriber numbers will be migrated to a 10-digit number like the mobile counterpart,” NCC stated.
