It is a well-known fact that certain mobile phone numbers hold more value than others due to various factors including being easy to remember, having certain patterns, or deemed as lucky numbers. Hence, they usually cost more or being traded around although there is no formal system that regulate their actual monetary value at the moment.
That is about to change soon as the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) has recently revealed that it will implement a bidding system for these valuable numbers in which are officially referred to as the “Cherished Numbers”. This was confirmed in the Public Inquiry (PI) report for the implementation of Cherished Number framework that the regulator published last week.
However, the implementation will not involve end-users directly though. After considering the feedback from telco companies, MCMC has decided that Cherished Numbers will be assigned directly to service providers through a close bidding process.
MCMC is also planning to publish the range of these special numbers on its website which should allow consumers to identify whether they have really obtained a genuine Cherished Number or otherwise. The regulator has also noted that resale and trading of Cherished Numbers will also be legal among consumers.
Even though MCMC has pretty much confirmed the implementation of the bidding system, it will provide more information on the actual process to service providers within the second quarter of this year while the first bidding session is expected to take place in the third quarter.
Despite the new system, we don’t expect things to change much though as Cherished Numbers have been sold and traded among consumers for so long. Furthermore, consumers will not be able to bid for those numbers directly but nevertheless, we still welcome the ability for users to see if their numbers are part of the Cherished Numbers group.
(Source: MCMC.)
