New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has invited suggestions from the public about changing the mobile phone number in the country to 11 digits instead of the current 10. This option is suggested to be adopted in view of the needs to deal with the demand for telecom connections with the growing population. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a discussion paper titled 'Development of Integrated Marks Scheme'.

This scheme is for both Mobile and stationary lines. The discussion paper states that if we assume that by 2050 the wireless phone penetration in India is 200 percent (ie each person has an average of two mobile connections), then the number of active mobile phones in this country will reach 3.28 billion.

At present there are 1.2 billion phone connections in the country. The regulator estimates that if 70 per cent of the digits are used, then by that time, 4.68 billion numbers will be needed for mobile phones in the country. The government has already started a 13-digit number series for reciprocal Internet connectivity / Internet of the things between machines.