Effective Oct. 6, landline numbers in the National Capital Region with an area code of 02 will have eight digits.
In a radio interview, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Undersecretary Eliseo Rio Jr. said “it has started at the first minute (of Oct. 6) at 12:01 a.m.”
A landline user must add the no. 8 before the seven-digit number for Philippine Long Distance Telephone line, while add the no. 7 to the existing seven-digit landline number for Globe Telecom, he said.
Under the National Telecommunications Commission’s Memorandum Order No. 10-10-2017, each telco was given an “identifier” as an additional prefix to add to existing phone numbers with the area code (02).
The no. 3 is assigned to Bayan Telecommunications.
According to the DICT, the change was implemented due to the increasing number of landline users in Metro Manila.
Rio said the change to the eight-digit landline numbers from seven-digit numbers is necessary to accommodate the huge number of landline subscribers.
“We really need to do that (migration) We are now experiencing the lack of seven-digit numbers for Metro manila. That is why we have to add another digit,” he said.
“Only area code 02 is affected,” he added.
The NTC earlier ordered telecommunications company to implement the migration on March 18.
The banking sector, however, requested a delay in the project implementation.
Meanwhile, callers from overseas to a metro landline, must dial the country code 063, then area code 02, then 8 or 7, then the old seven-digit landline number, DICT said.
After the migration, the seven-digit phone numbers will no longer be reachable.
During the migration period, consumers may experience a five-hour downtime from 12 a.m. to 5 a.m. on Oct. 6.