Etisalat cracks down on SIM card resale

Etisalat is clamping down on a black market in which people are selling so-called "distinguished" mobile phone numbers to others at up to more than 15 times their normal price.

The government-controlled company says it will cut off any numbers it finds to have been illegally transferred without its approval.

The snob value of having a distinctive mobile phone number has produced a spate of advertisements in newspapers and free-ads weeklies offering "distinguished or special numbers."

Some mobile phone dealers are also trading in the special numbers. Prices go as high as Dh3000 – more than 15 times the original price of mobile SIM cards.

In an announcement carried in the local press yesterday, Etisalat said mobile phone and landline users must obtain a prior written approval from the company if they want to buy or sell their telephone numbers.

It said it issued the warning after it noticed some subscribers advertising in newspapers for the sale of their telephone numbers.

"Etisalat would like to draw to the attention of the public that its telephone service contracts are personal contracts which must not be sold or transferred without a prior written approval by Etisalat. The company will not recognise such sales or transfers," it said.

"The original subscriber will remain responsible to Etisalat regarding all its rights and obligations and any consequences that might result from the use of the telephone numbers by others.

"The buyer will also bear the consequences and all legal responsibilities resulting from his purchase of any phone number illegally. Etisalat will cut off the service from any telephone suspected to have been sold or transferred in this way."

Mobile shop owners said they were dealing in SIM cards because they have not received any notification from Etisalat against such an activity.

"Most customers who come to buy SIM cards are looking for distinguished numbers which they cannot find in Etisalat. Normally, we sell these numbers at a high price because they are really special and we buy them for a high price," an Abu Dhabi-based dealer said.

Thousands of SIM cards are sold by Etisalat every day as customers are attracted by their cheap prices and the low rates per call, compared to the per capita income in the UAE.

Such high income and cheap prices have allied with Etisalat's continuous programmes to upgrade mobile phone services to turn the UAE into a country having one of the highest ratio of mobile phone users in the population.

At the end of September, GSM subscribers peaked at around 2.3 million, a ratio of 65 mobiles to every 100 people.

An Etisalat source said: "We have received many complaints about this SIM trade. It is illegal. We will no longer accept such activities which are making the phone market a fish market. We will be monitoring the situation and we are sure we can deal with it."