NEW DELHI: World's most popular free email providers Gmail and Yahoo have made telephone number mandatory for creation of new email addresses in a bid to check spam.

Any person wishing to create a new email id needs to provide a telephone number which Gmail and Yahoo use for verification.

Google India spokesperson claimed giving phone number was optional but repeated attempts to create a new email address on Gmail by skipping the mobile number requirement failed.

The Gmail website said that move to seek phone number is to check spam email senders.

"In an effort to protect our users from abuse, we sometimes ask users to prove they're not a robot before they're able to create or sign in to accounts. Having this additional confirmation via phone is an effective way to keep spammers from abusing our systems," the website said.

Google has also limited number of accounts that a person using one telephone number can create but the website did not specify the maximum number of email account it will allow.

While for Gmail a person can give either telephone or mobile number, for a new Yahoo it is now mandatory to have a mobile number.

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