With population increasing day by day, the need for IoT devices in increasing as well. The most required demand is a smartphone. This will lead to a rise in a number of communications between other IoT devices. To fulfill this, Department of Telecom (DoT) has issued a note to all telecom operators to start issuing 13-digit GSM M2M sim card numbers to their users.
The new numbering scheme for smartphone numbers will be available for M2M (machine to machine) customers by their telecom operators. It will start from 1 July 2018 onwards.
However, this means that people with their existing GSM M2M sim cards need to port their numbers to a 13-digit number. This will affect existing customers who are probably in business, corporate and even will affect in personal communication. This is because people have to remember 13 digits instead of 10 digits. According to Department of Telecom (Dot), people who are using a normal 10-digit number will get a new GSM M2M sim card with a new 13-digit number from 1 October 2018 onwards.
Department of Telecom has given a short deadline for telecom operators to complete this project with the last date of 31 December 2018.
All telecom service providers (TSP) have to ensure that their network should work for a new 13-digit number system before 1 July 2018. Furthermore, telecom service providers also have to ensure the practicality of the basic L1 system of 13-digit numbers before 1 July 2018.
Below is a letter by BSNL to its telecom equipment manufacturers and providers which reflects these statements as follows:
Know more about Machine to Machine Communication (M2M sim card)
GSM M2M sim card differs from our regular SIM card which we use in our smartphones. These special GSM M2M sim cards are useful for extreme conditions. They are used mostly in IoT or other connected devices like Card to windmills for data loading equipment. This allows clear communication between two or more connected devices.
However, GSM M2M sim card is not very practical for mobile devices. This is because they only allow few bands for data communication. These bands are currently provided by few carrier operator with a special data package. With current technology, machine to machine sim cards are only forone-way communication. For eg. to disclose the rate of flow of oil in a large pipeline project.
According to Department of Telecom, this is being done to make telecommunication more secure. It is not very clear and sure whether the previous 10-digit numbers will get convert into new 13 digit GSM M2M sim cards for machine to machine communication. According to Anupam Shrivastava, CMD of BSNL telecommunication – “There is no change in human mobile numbering scheme. This is only for M2M, only when machines need to talk to another machine.”
Another senior BSNL officer quoted that –
“It is decided that 13-digit M2M (Machine to machine COMMUNICATION) numbering plan will be implemented from July 1, 2018. From this date onwards, all new M2M mobile connections will get13-digit numbers only. Migration of existing 10-digit M2M numbers will start latest by 1 October 2018. This shall reflect by 31 December 2018 for sure.”
Its still not very sure if old customers will get any effect by this new machine to machine communication concept. Only time can reveal this. But for now, its safe to assume that current 10 digit numbers won’t get any problem by this.
