Get ready to pay for the mobile number!

When you get a new mobile number, what do you do? You just recharge and start using the number. You don’t have to pay any charge or fee for the mobile number. But if you may have to pay this extra fee? Well, this could be possibile. If the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) approves the new proposal, mobile phone and landline numbers will soon come with a price tag. This means you will have to pay a charge for them. Why is a charge being levied for the number? Who will collect this charge and how? Let’s find out.

Currently, service providers, i.e., telecom companies, are allocated numbers for both mobile and fixed-line services without any charge. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) says that mobile numbers are actually the property of the government. They are allocated to telecom companies for a limited time, which the companies in turn allot to customers. TRAI’s proposal suggests that the government can collect charges from companies in exchange for giving out mobile numbers, ensuring the prudent use of limited public resources.

TRAI has proposed to levy charges on allotting numbers to reduce the misuse of numbers. TRAI believes that mobile companies do not deactivate rarely used or long time unused mobile numbers, so that their user base is not negatively affected. TRAI is considering penalising operators for such activities. Operators keep these less-used mobile numbers intentionally to maintain their user base.

To understand this game of telecom companies in the current era, let’s take an example: dual SIM mobile phones are widely used nowadays. Almost every user has more than one mobile number. Despite having two mobile numbers, most people primarily use only one number and keep the other one unused. Telecom companies intentionally do not deactivate these rarely used mobile numbers. Deactivating mobile numbers would decrease their user base. Out of fear, companies do not deactivate these numbers.

TRAI says that in many countries around the world, such a system has been in place for some time, where telecom companies have to pay the government for mobile numbers or landline numbers, vanity numbers, etc. These countries include Australia, Singapore, Belgium, Finland, Britain, Lithuania, Greece, Hong Kong, Bulgaria, Kuwait, Netherlands, Algeria, Switzerland, Poland, Nigeria, Bahrain, South Africa, Portugal, and Denmark.

TRAI suggests that charges can be levied either at once for the number or annually through recurring payments. TRAI recommends that the government should collect charges for numbers from telecom companies. But if this proposal is implemented, it’s obvious that telecom companies will burden ordinary customers with this charge.

TRAI also believes that a major drawback of this system will be that instead of bearing the burden of charges themselves, service providers will shift it onto the customers. Especially for secondary or alternate mobile numbers, customers might have to incur more expenses. Because initially, a charge will be levied on new numbers, and if the usage of the alternative number is low, then a penalty will be imposed on it.