Telcos told to issue 13-digit number to M2M customers

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 21

The Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked all telecom operators to starting issuing 13-digit mobile numbers for all Machine-to-Machine (M2M) customers from October 18 onward.

This move will have no effect on the 10-digit mobile numbers being used by the mobile customers in their personal capacity and the implementation of the process to issue 13-digit mobile numbers only to the M2M users would start from July 1 onwards.

M2M SIM is a technology that enables smartphones and other devices to communicate with each other and with other IoT devices and systems. This is different from regular GSM SIMs that can be transferred from one phone to another.

M2M numbers are the ones that are used for SIMs in devices like swipe machines, cars, electricity meters etc. The deadline for the same is December 31, 2018.

Telecom operators and industry body COAI have said the mobile numbers being used by the personal subscribers would remain unaffected by this development.

Earlier this month, the DoT had issued a directive to telecom operators mentioning the implementation of 13-digit numbering scheme for M2M communication.

“Migration of existing 10-digit M2M numbers to 13 digits will start latest by October 1, 2018 and shall be completed by December 31, 2018,” the DoT order stated. All new M2M mobile connections will be allocated l3-digit numbers from July 1, 2018, it added.

This technology leverages connected devices to remotely work or talk to each other via wireless network.

The move from the DoT came as the telecom operators have started offering SIM-based M2M services to enterprises across verticals in the form of smart electricity meters, vehicle tracking and fuel monitoring system and traffic management solution.

Not to affect GSM mobile subscribers

• This move will have no effect on the 10-digit mobile numbers being used by the mobile customers in their personal capacity 
• The implementation of the process to issue 13-digit mobile numbers only to the M2M users would start from July 1 onwards
• M2M numbers are the ones that are used for SIMs in devices such as swipe machines, cars, electricity meters etc

What is M2M communication…

M2M or Machine-to-Machine communication can be described as the interaction between devices and machines (it could be airplane, ship, connected cars, or bicycle) that are connected to the internet and to each other. The M2M SIM card is required to connect these devices to the internet.