A mobile number with all the same digits or with particular sequences is worth more to some collectors than a luxury car. These days we talk about it for the history of Mr Sima Italian collector anonymous who has just won four Guinness World Records for his SIM cards with “impossible” numbers and rejected a 2 million euro offer for his most valuable number. But is there really a market for these objects? And above all: can you buy a telephone number at will even in Italy? Let’s see how it works.
Mr Sim’s most precious collections
The highlight of Mr Sim’s collection, which began about fifteen years ago, is (+39)333 3333333an Italian number that earned him two Guinness World Record awards: the one for the greatest number of consecutive identical digits and the one for the greatest number of identical digits ever on a mobile phone. Of course, if the prefix had been the French one, +33, it would have been even more incredible – although, it should be noted, in France the numbers always begin with 06 or 07, and not with a three-digit number of which 3 is always the first in Italy.
The collection, as explained on the site, began by chance: one day the collector’s cell phone stopped working, and he couldn’t remember his number. A friend told him, jokingly, that he should get a number that was easy to remember. The rest is history. Added to this are two other records, obtained with the number from longest ascending sequence, (+39)340 1234567and that from longest decreasing sequence, (+39)337 6543210, and a collection dubbed “Golden Digits”, which includes other numbers with curious combinations.
Numbers like this are very rare, but there are specialized e-commerce sites that resell them: they start from around 35 euros for a SIM with pairs or triplets of repeated digits, up to much higher figures for six-digit numbers like those from the first era of mobile telephony, which can cost up to 5,000 euros.
To give you an idea, the most expensive phone number ever sold was the 666-6666which was sold at a charity auction in Doha, Qatar, in 2006. The number sold for 10 million Qatari riyals (QAR) – equivalent to around £1.46 million or $2.75 million at the time – to an anonymous Qatari buyer. The previous record belonged to8888-8888purchased in 2003 in China for 2.33 million Chinese yuan (CNY), equivalent at the time to around $280,723 or £177,209.
How to buy a personalized phone number in Italy
In Italy there is no real official market for “choice” numbers: no operator allows you to freely dial all the digits, but there is some possibility of customization.
To the registration of a new SIMmany operators (such as Very Mobile, ho. Mobile or Kena) show a small list of available numbers to choose from: it is not free customization, but it happens that you find some interesting or significant sequence.
Then there are operators who offer a real customization service:
- I have. Mobile offers the “I have. The number I want” service, which allows you to choose the availability of up to 6 final digits of the number (excluding the prefix, which remains blocked on the 379 assigned to the operator, and the first lapse) via the app or customer service, with the first change being free and subsequent changes costing a few euros. Coast 9.99 euros for new customers e 4.99 euros for existing customers.
- Iliad gives the possibility to customize the new numbers upon activation: also in this case the last 6 digits can be customized, subject to availability. The functionality is active in the Web channels, iliad Express, iliad Store, iliad Corner and all points of sale with an iliad Simbox. After selecting the desired offer, when asked “Do you want to keep your mobile number?”, by selecting “No”, you can choose whether to customize the last 6 digits or proceed with an automatic assignment by the system.
- Spusu, virtual operatordoes something similar, but for a fee: you contact support, indicate the desired combinations and the operator communicates a price. Spusu evaluates requests on a case-by-case basis through assistance and communicates a personalized quote; cases are reported online with amounts starting from around 150 euros, but there is no public price list. Also in this case it is not possible to choose the whole number: the prefix (378) and the first decade (06) are mandatory, while the last 5 digits can be customized.
Outside official channelsa small informal secondary market of curious numbers resold directly by those who own them also circulates on forums and Telegram groups (bearing in mind that the transfer of the number still requires compliance with the procedures established by the operator), but here prices and seriousness of the seller must be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
