Who owns your cellphone number?
A company called Remember Forever – which set up a business selling premium numbers and plans to deliver services over other premium numbers – recently raised questions about the ownership of mobile numbers in South Africa.
According to Remember Forever the nationalisation of cell phone numbers has already taken place. “According to a letter from Vodacom on 2 July 2010, cell phone numbers are classified as a national resource,” the company said in a press statement.
But Remember Forever’s Francois Nortje says that despite the fact that regulations to this effect were published a few years ago, this information is not reflected in any of the Terms and Conditions from the three cellular operators in South Africa.
Nortje says that there is no clarity about the issue of number ownership on starter packs, begging the question: What leverage does a subscriber have in terms of trading their cell phone number?
According to Nortje ICASA regulations stipulate that “a person to whom the number has been legitimately issued, may enjoy the beneficial use of the number, freely and without hindrance”, and Nortje argues that while a cell phone number does not belong to its holder, subscribers are entitled to sell the ‘right to the use’ of the number.
What the cellular providers say
According to Nortje the cellular providers are trying to claim ownership of cellular numbers, and cited a clause in Cell C’s contract which states that “Cell C SP (Service Provider) reserves the right to alter the SIM card or subscriber phone number allocated to the subscriber.”
Vodacom said that they do not claim ownership of the actual number, but do claim ownership of the SIM card: “Ownership of the SIM card allocated to the Customer shall, at all times, remain vested in VSP. All risk in and to the SIM card shall pass to the Customer upon delivery thereof,” Vodacom said.
MTN said that both numbers and frequency are viewed as a national resource from a public policy perspective. “Numbers, as utilised in communications, are under the control of the Regulator, ICASA, and numbers are managed in terms of a numbering plan as published by ICASA from time to time,” MTN said.
“The management of numbers and frequency is deemed essential in order to facilitate an orderly and efficient use of such a national resource. Numbers are allocated to various operators in terms of the numbering plan and the operators, in turn, are obliged to use those numbers in an efficient manner. All the licensees or operators are subject to, and have to act in accordance with the transparent numbering regulations, as issued by ICASA.”
MTN pointed out that ICASA has embarked upon a process to review the numbering plan regulations to increase capacity and enhance efficiency. “These new draft proposals were published on 4 June 2010. Numbers may therefore be withdrawn or amended by ICASA in terms of the published regulations,” MTN said.
Cell C’s Group General Counsel Graham Mackinnon explains that their current subscriber agreement contains the following wording in clause 4.2: “You acknowledge and agree that the SIM card and MSISDN allocated to you may (if it becomes necessary) be altered by us”.
“Cell C is not suggesting by this wording that it owns the MSISDN (the number) but we may occasionally have to alter numbers and are simply alerting customers to this fact in the agreement,” said Mackinnon.
Mackinnon however highlights a clause in the regulations which may not be exactly what Nortje or anyone else who wants to sell numbers want to hear: “…sub-regulation 16(3) (d) states ‘assigned numbers must not be traded’”.
From this sub-regulation it looks like Remember Forever may be engaging in a risky business by buying and selling numbers.
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