The new method will also enable the cellular companies to give their customers the same number as their seven-digit fixed line telephones.
Ministry of Communications director general Ure Olenek has instructed Israel’s communications providers to adapt their systems to seven-digit cellular numbers with one prefix for each company from April 2004.
The measure is the central plank of the new numbering plan for communications services, jointly prepared by the Ministry of Communications and Telcordia Technologies of the US. The plan has two main goals: to free the 06 prefix for new service operators and significantly increasing the supply of cellular telephone numbers, while reducing the prefixes for each company to one.
The new method will also enable the cellular companies to give their customers the same number as their seven-digit fixed line telephones. A "double dialing" transition period has been set, during which calls will be directed to the new number, even if the previous prefix and six-digit number is called. This period will be followed by another transition period, during which callers to the previous number or prefix will get an announcement stating the number is no longer in use.
The ministry's measure will have only a limited impact on competition. The ministry is also initiating transferable telephone numbers technology that will enable customers to transfer among telephone companies, while retaining their original telephone numbers and prefixes. The measure, which the Croll Committee also recommended, requires a more comprehensive technological deployment.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on August 20, 2002