du admits people 'shared' numbers

Dubai: Technical glitches have led to the same phone number being registered by two people in a number of cases, du has confirmed.

Dubai's new telecom company had a number registration campaign before its launch, where potential customers could register their preferred numbers. du has confirmed that technical faults have led to some 20 "rare" numbers being assigned to more than one person.

"There were some 20 cases of numbers being registered by two parties which we discovered recently. This seems to have been caused by a system error," said Osman Sultan, CEO of du, adding that an investigation was under way to determine the cause of the error.

Hani Lateef, who works at one of du's distribution agencies, told Gulf News he registered a rare number which he used for about a week until it was replaced with another regular number without his knowledge.

"I was shocked to know that my number had changed when my friend tried to call me and reached someone else. I then called my number and a random person answered saying that I've dialled the wrong number," he said.

However, the CEO of du, Osman Sultan, told Gulf News that all the disputed numbers were registered by employees of du distribution agents, such as Lateef.

"These numbers have specifically been registered in two distribution centres."

Jasem (not his real name), who the number was transferred to, told Gulf News that he registered the number during the registration campaign and was given priority as he had the same number under etisalat.

"I registered the number and received my SIM card but my number was not functional, so I called du and told them about it."

Sultan also alleged that some of those who registered the rare numbers might have been engaging in "some kind of parallel business" where rare numbers are booked to be resold at higher prices.

Lateef, who insists that he registered the number legitimately, having paid Dh155 for it, says that he was treated unfairly "by having the number taken from me, especially because they didn't notify me".

But du insists that Lateef was informed "over the phone that the number he booked had already been booked by the legitimate subscriber".

Pointing to a clause in the registration terms and conditions, Sultan said numbers were not owned by customers.

"In this case, since we had a legitimate reason to recall the number from Mr Hani and assign it to [Jasem], we did it to comply with the rules set out in the Number Booking Campaign," he said, adding du was not obliged to offer Lateef any compensation.

Sultan told Gulf News all cases are "in the process of being rectified" and that most persons involved "willingly" returned their numbers.