Can PH run out of cellphone numbers? | Epou

Posted by Eta Phi Sports on Jul 21, 2012 in Mobile | 0 comments

MANILA, Philippines ? Telco regulators fear the Philippine mobile phone industry could run out of cellphone numbers, if the expiration of prepaid cellphone "load" is removed.

National Telecommunications Commission director Edgardo Cabarios said this is one of the issues that regulators are looking at, as it reviews a plan to extend the life or remove the expiration of cellphone "load."

"If the expiration of prepaid loads will be removed, there?s possibility that these numbers won?t be reused anymore. Because if SIM card is P1 load and it?s there for many years, then you can?t reuse that number and there?s possibility that all of these numbers will run out," Cabarios said.

"Limited resource kasi ang numero so magagamit na uli, kaysa nariyan nakatengga diyan, di? nagagamit, sayang," he added.

Cabarios said there?s a tendency for most cellphone subscribers to keep up to three SIM cards, so some of them could be left dormant.

Cabarios said the regulator is conducting a study on how much of the possible cellphone number combinations have already been exhausted, since it began issuing franchises for mobile phone service providers in 1988. The NTC estimates 94 million mobile phone subscribers in the country, with growth at an annual 10%.

Currently, a prepaid SIM card expires 6 months after its owner left it without topping up its load. The telco provider then re-assigns it to another user, raising privacy or security concerns.

"Hindi pag-aari yun (number) ng tao. Government ang may-ari," Cabarios said.

A World Bank report "2012 Information and Communications for Development: Maximizing Mobile" said that the Philippines is also one of the countries where there are now more SIM cards than people.

Can PH run out of cellphone numbers?

Source: http://epou.net/?p=34261

shrimp scampi kate upton si cover lobster recipes hearts roses flower delivery e cards