Re: data point - anonymous E.164 number usage

[James Seng <]

And the point is?...

Michael Haberler wrote:
> In the context of validation of numbers for ENUM, I have tried to 
> estimate the amount of mobile users which have totally anonymously 
> bought a prepaid SIM card, or in other words, users of E.164 numbers 
> which have no trace at all in a phonebook or other records.
>
> In the EU, all countries except Germany, Hungary and Italy permit 
> totally anonymous purchase of prepaid SIM cards. This indicates that 
> about 65% of the EU population have access to anonymous mobile service 
> (even in Italy, just a taxpayer code is needed which is not subscriber 
> data but allows to track down a user for law enforcement - but lets 
> leave that out for the sake of argument; in France I understand a record 
> is made for purposes of recovering a lost SIM card but not for proof of 
> identity).
>
> There are about 400 Million mobile users in Europe, and penetration of 
> prepaid is about 40%. Assuming that nobody registers if he doesnt have 
> to, and multiplying those figures a ballpark estimate is that *there are 
> about 100 Million E.164 numbers in use in Europe without any subscriber 
> data just through the use of prepaid SIM cards.
>
> *-Michael