The Department of Telecommunication has given its approval for Reliance Jio to issue new mobile numbers starting with 6, reported Telecom Talk. The 6-series numbers will be made available only in Rajasthan, Assam and Tamil Nadu.

A notification from the DoT said Reliance Jio has been allotted new mobile switching codes for phone numbers, the report said. The notification said new codes have been allotted to cater to the rise in the number of mobile users.

In Rajasthan, the Mukesh Ambani-led company has been allotted 60010-60019 Mobile Switching Centre codes, in Assam it is 60020-60029 and 60030-60039 in Tamil Nadu, Telecom Talk reported. In Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, Reliance Jio has been allotted 7-series MSC codes, and 8-series MSC codes in Kolkata and Maharashtra. DoT also allotted Bharti Airtel 9-series MSC codes (90680-90689) in Uttar Pradesh West Telecom zone, the report added.

According to a report by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the mobile subscriber base at the end of November 2016 increased by 1.96% to 1,099.51 million from 1,078.42 million in October 2016, PTI had reported. Reliance Jio alone added over 16.2 million in November 2016, Trai said. Its total subscriber base increased to 51.87 million within three months of its launch. The company has now become the leader in mobile broadband segment, Trai added.

Since its launch in September last year, Reliance Jio has offered lucrative data and voice calls plans. In December 2016, the company had announced that all new Reliance Jio users will receive data, voice, video and a host of other Jio applications free of cost between December 4 and March 31, 2017.