8-digit phone numbers in Qatar from today

DOHA AT 12.01 am (midnight) sharp on Wednesday, your fixed and mobile numbers will have changed.

When you get up in the morning, your near and dear ones in Qatar and from anywhere else in the world will need to add an extra digit to the old number to speak to you.

Under a national renumbering plan to change all telephone numbers from seven to eight digits, Qatar’s two telecom operators, Qtel and Vodafone, have made all necessary arrangements for a smooth transition to the new numbering scheme.

Under the plan, the first digit of both the fixed and mobile numbers will be repeated.

Thus, if your old number started with 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 all you need to do is to repeat the first digit such as 33, 44, 55, 66 and 77.

Qtel and Vodafone engineers along with their customer service staff have been working on the renumbering plan for some time.

They will have burnt the midnight oil through Tuesday-Wednesday to ensure what Qatar telecom regulator ictQatar has promised will be a seamless transition to the eightdigit numbers.

Although in many cases, the addition of a new digit will make people’s numbers easier to remember, Qtel is providing the option of a replacement number for customers who have purchased Easy to Remember (ETR) phone numbers.

Qtel is offering a choice of two new numbers from the same category as the original ETR for all customers who purchased ETR from Qtel after July 28, 2009 and before July 28, 2010.

Customers who are eligible and want to change their numbers can register via the Qtel website, www.qtel.qa, and they will be contacted by the Qtel customer service team.

Customers with ETR numbers may select one of two options as their new number, and will have five days to make their choice.

(After five days, ETR numbers that have been offered to the customer but not accepted will be placed back in the pool of available numbers, and made available to other customers).

If customers accept the offer of one of the replacement ETR numbers, they will no longer be able tmake use of their old number.

However, as an added customer service, Qtel will provide an automatic voice callforwarding facility from the old number to the new ETR number free of charge for 90 days.

The process will be managed with the online customer service team – customers should go to this team, rather than Qtel Shops or the Qtel Contact Centre.

As a major benefit for Qtel customers, the telecom major will continue to offer an official, tested renumbering application for mobile phones available free for all customers.

The application automatically analyses and updates all numbers stored in a mobile phone handset to support the numbering plan.

It supports the majority of popular handsets in Qatar including Nokia, BlackBerry, iPhones, Android and Windows Mobile based devices as well as common devices from major mobile phone producers (Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG and others).

It is the only official application approved by Qtel, and customers are advised to use it rather than any of the unofficial number change programmes.

The automatic number change application is part of Qtel’s ongoing support for all customers in the run-up to the National Number Change programme.

Qtel has dedicated customer support staff to answer customers’ querys.

They can be reached on 111 or 800 8000 for business customers.

Vodafone has elaborated a list of applications that can be used to update contact lists on mobile handsets on www.vodafone.com.qa.

All emergency telephone numbers within Qatar, including 999 and 112, will not be affected by the change, and the country code will remain +974.

Numbers beginning with 1, 2, 8 and 9 will not be changed.