MANAGUA – Nicaragua is set to add a digit onto its seven-digit phone numbers, following the path of Costa Rica earlier this year.

The switch to eight digits is slated for April 1.

The measure, announced this week by the Nicaraguan Telecommunications and Mail Institute (TELCOR), comes at a time when phone numbers have run out, mainly because of the rapid growth in the mobile sector.

Just as in Costa Rica, Nicaragua will add “2” before landline numbers and “8” before cell phone numbers, TELCOR said in the state-published La Gaceta.