Australian telecom regulator ACMA has announced plans to introduce a new mobile prefix, to cope with the growing demand caused by the smartphone and tablet boom.
The regulator expects the current pool of available 04 mobile numbers to run out as early as 2017. Once these numbers are exhausted, the new prefix 05 will be introduced.
New amendments to the Telecommunications Numbering Plan will also supplement the supply of geographic numbers for fixed lines in regional areas, and removing the geographic sectors around five capital cities.
These changes are designed to allow geographic prefixes to be used across wider areas, in order to make the most out of the pools of numbers.
According to ACMA, an additional 100 million numbers will be needed to support Australians' anticipated demand over the next 20 years, and the new amendments will ensure that supply.
“Demand for mobile numbers is being driven by new technologies like internet capable smart phones, tablets and machine to machine communications” ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman said.
A group of 0550 numbers currently reserved for Location Independent Communications Services will likely be retired, to avoid customer confusion once the new 05 mobile numbers are being allocated.