Telecom regulator TRAI has recommended the government to review National Numbering Plan 2003 to allow for the use of special characters like star (*) and hash (#) within the service providers network for value added services.
The NNP 2003 does not permit the use of any special characters for voice services. However, it does not encompass the procedure by which the subscriber can access the service provider's physical network.
"Hence it is required that NNP 2003 should be reviewed and amended to accommodate the intra-network services also by using special characters such as * and # within the service provider's network," TRAI said in the recommendations forwarded to the Departemnt of Telecom.
The recommendation was made after obtaining clarification from service providers who were using special characters or symbols.
After analysing the responses from the service providers TRAI found out that they were not using any special character for any of the voice services but for value added intra-network services
The regulator said that since NNP was designed when telecom service industry was in nascent stage, the use of special characters in provisioning of intra-network value added services would not have been incorporated in the plan.
{{/usCountry}}The regulator said that since NNP was designed when telecom service industry was in nascent stage, the use of special characters in provisioning of intra-network value added services would not have been incorporated in the plan.
{{/usCountry}}In March, TRAI had issued recommendations for permitting usage of strings containing #, $, # etc. For accessing High Speed Data Services in Wireless Networks duly after consultation process.