China approves 10 firms to run masked calls on new 700 numbers

China approves 10 firms to run masked calls on new 700 numbers

11 November 2026: China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has approved 10 companies, including Alibaba Cloud and Tencent Cloud, to pilot a "number protection" service that hides both callers' real numbers behind a dedicated 15-digit range beginning with 700. The aim is to end the practice of using ordinary mobile numbers as the middle numbers that delivery riders and drivers call through.

Not yet independently verified. MIIT's page says only that the approvals were given recently and does not date the earlier notice that set the pilot rules; neither a start date for the 700 numbers nor a deadline for moving off ordinary mobile numbers is stated. We will update this when it can be confirmed, and remove this note.

Why MIIT built a separate number range

Masked calling is everywhere in Chinese platform services: a courier rings a customer through an intermediary number so neither sees the other's real one. MIIT says that market has been disorderly, with mobile numbers and other ordinary numbers pressed into service as middle numbers, which makes it hard for people to tell who is calling and helps telecom fraud and unsolicited commercial messages. An earlier MIIT notice on the pilot set out who may take part, the business rules and the supervisory requirements, and reserved the 15-digit 700 range for this service alone.

The approved firms went through application, on-site inspection, assessment and system building before MIIT found that they had the technical capacity and qualifications to run the service on 700 numbers.

The ten companies

MIIT names them in its notice:

• China Telecom Digital Intelligence Technology
• China Mobile Internet
• Alibaba Cloud Computing (Beijing)
• Tencent Cloud Computing (Beijing)
• Guangxi Dongxin Yitong
• Beijing Lingdu
• Beijing Zhibo Jiuzhou
• Beijing Tianrun Rongtong Technology
• Beijing Weihu
• Xi'an Tiecheng Network Technology

Several are cloud communications and contact-centre suppliers rather than carriers, which is the point: the pilot firms work with the basic telecom operators on one side and the internet platforms on the other.

How a call will look to the user

Food delivery and ride hailing come first. Users choose whether to switch number protection on. Once it is live, a rider or driver calls the customer through a 700 number, and each side's real number stays hidden for the whole call. Caller ID and a voice announcement before the call connects tell the user what the call is about and which platform it comes from, which MIIT sums up as letting people answer with confidence and know who is ringing.

What comes after the pilot

MIIT says it will extend the service to more companies and more scenarios "steadily and gradually", strengthen industry management and refine the rules, and hold the companies involved to their responsibilities. For platforms that today buy masked-calling from a supplier using ordinary mobile numbers, the direction is clear even without a date: the approved route is a 700 number from a licensed pilot firm.

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Sources

• Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (China): 工业和信息化部批复10家企业开展号码保护服务业务试点 (MIIT approves 10 firms to pilot number protection services), 11 November 2026, 11 November 2026