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Re: data point - anonymous E.164 number usage


James,

The point is that before a model of authentication and authorization is designed for a specific market, it is advisable to take a look out there "in the real world" to see if or to which extent the effort is justified. Otherwise, we could delay or block the introduction of a new technology just because paper-work requires effort which does not compensate what the end service delivers (cost > benefit).

Adrian

On 27 Feb 2004, at 01:16, James Seng wrote:

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




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