The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd proposes to introduce eight-digit numbering for telephone connections in Bangalore urban area shortly, top officials said on Friday.

"All the existing seven digit telephone numbers (barring numbers starting from level 7 in rural areas) will be converted into 8 digit numbers prefixed by digit 2. It will be introduced in January," BSNL principal general manager B R Baliga said.

He said BSNL had 9,65,883 subscribers in Bangalore with an addition of around 4,000 connections per month. It also had withdrawals of about 4,000 every month due to cellular phones and private telecom operators.

Baliga said BSNL was offering a second land line connection at concessional rates of Rs 499 per month for Internet users, which can be used for unlimited access of Internet.

The scheme is open for registration from December 15 and the subscriber can access internet from any internet service provider, he said.

Baliga said there were 3,18,106 BSNL mobile subscribers in Karnataka, with about 214,000 prepaid subscribers. BSNL has extended its Diwali bonanza for prepaid customers in which talk time equal to the recharge coupon value has been provided till December 31, he said.