Airtel Removes '95' Dialing from Fixed Line Phones

Airtel announced the withdrawal of '95' dialing for long distance calling on its fixed line service as per the directive from Department of Telecom (DoT), Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India. This withdrawal will come into effect from midnight of March 9, 2009.

Airtel's fixed line customers will now be able to call these telephone numbers (earlier accessed through 95) by activating the STD facility and dialing the city STD code prefixed with 0. For example - to call Mysore, Airtel fixed line customers in Bangalore will need to dial 0821 instead of 95821. Similarly, to call Bangalore, Airtel Telemedia customers in Mysore will need to dial 080 instead of 9580.

Airtel customers within 500 kms of a telecom circle and less than 50 kms of the adjoining SDCA can do without activating STD facility. They will need to dial the city STD code prefixed with 0. To access numbers outside of this perimeter, the customer will have to activate his STD facility by calling 121 from his Airtel fixed line number. The customer will continue to be billed for all calls as per the prevailing tariff.