Mobile network operators in Viet Nam have started to shorten their 11-digit phone subcribers to 10 digits by replacing some of the current prefixes with new numbers in a move to standardise the length of all mobile numbers.

Accordingly, 21 11-digit subscription codes of the five current mobile service providers in Viet Nam are affected by this change.

The prefixes of Viettel, namely 0162, 0163, 0164, 0165, 0166, 0167, 0168, and 0169, are changed to 032, 033, 034, 035, 036, 037, 038, and 039, respectively.

The prefixes of MobiFone, namely 0120, 0121, 0122, 0123, 0126, and 0128, are changed to 070, 079, 077, 076, and 078.

The prefixes of VinaPhone, namely0123, 0124, 0125, 0127, and 0129, are change to 083, 084, 085, 081, and 082.

The prefixes of Vietnamobile, namely 0188 and 1086, are changed to 058 and 056.

The prefix 0199 of Gtel is changed to 059.

Basically, after this change, 11-digit mobile phone subscribers still keep their last 7 digits.

The change is being applied from 15 September 2018 to 30 June 2019.

In the conversion process from 15 September 2018 to 14 November  2018, all mobile network operators in Viet Nam allow normal calls to both the old and new numbers. They are also offering bilingual notice in Vietnamese and English in that time. After that, calls to the old numbers will receive an audio message informing users of the change in number. The operation of the audio message will stop after June 30 next year.

All 11-digit mobile phone subcribers are affected by this change.

In particular, the Da Nang branches of domestic mobile carriers are actively assisting their subcribers to change from their 11-digit phone numbers to 10 digits to ensure that their communication is not affected during the transition period.

Viettel, Mobifone, Vinaphone and Vietnamobile have announced that their subscribers can use carrier apps on their smartphones to automatically update their contacts.

Especially, the country’s leading telephone service provider  MobiFone is applying methods to support their subscribers to maintain a healthy connection during this conversion time.

Accordingly, MobiFone subscribers are able to use both their old and new numbers to make and receive calls for 60 days after their new number is effective.

Announcement is delivered automatically in at least 90 days after the old number is ineffective to help callers be aware of the receiver’s new number.

A noticing message is sent to related subscriber after the phone number conversion is successful. There is also be support in the app My Mobifone for customers to easily change phone numbers in their phone books.

Viber and Zalo, the two major instant messaging services in Viet Nam, also announced that they are offering automatic support to the change in account numbers of their Vietnamese users after the back-end change is completed.

Meanwhile, as for users of feature phones, the carriers stated that support will be provided at their outlets.