Tianjin Mobile says it will start using the mobile phone prefix "159" as early as March this year in an effort to solve the current shortage of number resources.

The 159 number section, along with numbers initiated with "18", has been widely regarded as a special number section of the 3G network.

Although China Mobile has not had a definite timetable for each of its subsidiaries to adopt their respective number sections, Guangdong Mobile and Tianjin Mobile have taken the lead in already announcing implementation of new blocks of numbers.

A representative from Tianjin Mobile said that with a total of 3.5 million users, Tianjin Mobile has already used up 80% of the existing number resources, so it is hoping that the new number section will help it fill the shortage of number resources in the coming years.