Change in your phone number is good news for Kabul?

The change in your telephone numbers in Delhi and Mumbai will make Rs 750 crore worth of MTNL’s telephone exchanges — 60 per cent ...

The change in your telephone numbers in Delhi and Mumbai will make Rs 750 crore worth of MTNL’s telephone exchanges — 60 per cent of the company’s profits last year — non-usable. Reason: these cannot handle the huge numbers which could go up to 21 digits (for STD/ISD). And MTNL has a suggestion — the equipment could be donated to a needy country like Afghanistan.

MTNL chairman and managing director Narinder Sharma admitted in a letter to the Ministry of Communications last month that while ‘‘the equipment has been serving a useful purpose and is still left with 10 to 15 years of useful life…it has been decided to phase out this equipment.’’

Sharma said MTNL’s offer to PSU Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) for using these exchanges in smaller towns was rejected. Competition may be pushing down bottomlines of telecom companies but PSUs don’t see much merit in ‘‘reusing equipment’’.

So the best option, according to MTNL, is to deploy the equipment outside India ‘‘for a needy country like Afghanistan.’’ Sharma has asked the Ministry to take up the matter through ‘‘proper channels.’’

MTNL Delhi has E-10B exchanges — equipped for six lakh lines — that were installed at a cost of Rs 432 crore. Even the depreciated value of this equipment is estimated to be around Rs 395 crore. Added to this is the cost of these exchanges in Mumbai, installed for Rs 456 crore and with a current depreciated cost of Rs 356 crore.

The new numbering plan has changed the numbers in these two cities from seven digits to eight to 12 digits in satellite towns. The software in the E-10B exchanges cannot handle these numbers.

Also, with private operators offering STD and ISD services, consumers would soon have to dial a code number — carrier access code — for the operator of their choice. All this would add more and more digits and require exchanges superior to the E-10B exchanges.

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Consumer organisations like Telecom Watchdog have pointed out to the government and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India that 70 per cent of households in Delhi and Mumbai don’t have telephones, owing to the high rentals.

Says Anil Kumar of Telecom Watchdog: ‘‘Instead of condemning such equipment, these could be used in pockets in Delhi and Mumbai where consumers don’t have the need for STD and ISD facilities and could benefit with just local calling at lower rentals…’’

Meanwhile, equipment manufacturers are looking forward to a slew of new tenders from MTNL to replace the old exchanges.