Japan considers new 060 cell quantity prefix as 070 runs low

Japan is working out of cell phone numbers and should quickly roll out a brand new prefix for the primary time in additional than a decade.

Numbers beginning with 060 might be obtainable as early as December, in keeping with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.

Mobile cellphone numbers in Japan presently have 090, 080 and 070 prefixes. Only 5.3 million 070 numbers stay, whereas all usable 090 and 080 numbers have been assigned.

According to the Telecommunications Carriers Association, Japan had 212 million cell phone subscriptions as of March 2024, up from 140 million a decade earlier.

Beginning in 1999, cell phone numbers in Japan have been 11-digit numbers beginning with 090. With the recognition of flip telephones, numbers with that prefix have been shortly exhausted, and 080 numbers have been launched in March 2002.

Smartphones helped drive continued fast uptake, and 070 numbers have been made obtainable in November 2013.

According to World Bank knowledge, Japan has had a couple of mobile subscription per individual since 2011.

With the introduction of the brand new prefixes, as many as 90 million new numbers shall be doable.

Early indications are that 060 shall be accepted by shoppers and won’t face vital resistance. According to on-line posts, larger prefixes are typically related to older individuals and could be thought-about much less cool.

While a 090 quantity can provide a way of being established, youthful Japanese smartphone customers are usually amenable or detached to the newer, decrease prefixes, on-line feedback recommend.

To put together for the distribution of 060 numbers, the ministry arrange a council on Wednesday and can take public feedback till the start of November.

A last choice shall be made by the ministry based mostly on opinions from the council and the general public, and 060 numbers might be obtainable as early as mid-December.