The so-called secondary number release means that after old users cancel their mobile phone numbers, the operator will put the canceled numbers back on the market for new users to use after a period of freezing period. Telecom service regulations stipulate that the minimum number freezing period is 90 days.
"The most important reason for secondary number allocation is the shortage of number resources." The person in charge of relevant business of China Mobile said that the industry recognized that the number utilization rate exceeds 50%, which means the number resources are tight, and the current number utilization rate has exceeded 50%.
At the same time, some new numbers have never been used due to user preferences, cultural customs and other reasons. Numbers that are easy to remember and have good meanings have often been used before, so many of the new numbers put on the market are secondary numbers.
Why can't it be effectively intercepted?
Since last year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has promoted the "secondary number renewal" service, which mainly includes operators providing users with "batch renewal + active renewal" services.
Batch renewal refers to pushing the recycled numbers that are about to be put on the market to Internet applications in batches in advance, and completing the unbinding before the numbers are re-allocated; active renewal refers to providing a renewal service entrance for users who use secondary numbers. Users can operate independently and unbind Internet applications and number tags that already existed before opening a mobile phone number account with one click.
Data released by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in January this year showed that basic telecommunications companies refreshed more than 250 million secondary numbers in batches before allocating numbers, and unbundled more than 1 billion Internet applications; they launched active renewal service portals in official apps and mini-programs, supported the unbinding of historical bindings to 239 commonly used Internet applications, and processed more than 360 million unbundling applications for more than 5.8 million users.
With the actions taken by all parties, the problem of app unbundling has been alleviated to a certain extent, but the "bombardment" of debt collection, marketing and other harassing messages left by the previous owner still cannot be eradicated.
"During the second number allocation process, some former users were bound to non-common applications and websites. There are a huge number of such applications and websites, and it is difficult for operators to verify them one by one and notify relevant application and website operators to unbundle them." said the person in charge of relevant business of China Mobile.
So, can operators identify and screen risky numbers by grabbing keywords in canceled number information and other pre-processing methods to avoid releasing them to new users?
The relevant business leaders of China Mobile and China Unicom told reporters that after a user cancels their account, the telecommunications service contract between the operator and the user will be terminated. Information cannot be captured and analyzed at will, otherwise it will be suspected of violating the Personal Information Protection Law. However, for high-risk numbers marked by authoritative departments such as fraud and harassing marketing, operators can implement measures such as extending the number freezing period and suspending re-admission in accordance with the regulations of the superior authorities to minimize the risk of accepting new users.
Further build a rights protection wall
How to further reduce the negative impact of secondary number allocation on users?
"To better protect the rights and interests of users, operators should prominently inform new users whether the number is a secondary number when allocating numbers to ensure users' right to know and their right to make independent choices," said Deng Pei, senior partner at Beijing Huatai Law Firm.
The reporter learned that some operators have set up clear regulations that require sales staff to clearly inform users whether the number being processed is a secondary number that has been put back on the market when applying for a new number to join the network, so as to ensure the user's right to know.
Ms. Peng told reporters that when she applied for a new mobile phone number, she was not informed whether the number had been used before. "The sales staff just took out a number book and told me that I could choose any of the numbers on it." In other words, some grassroots business outlets still have flaws in fulfilling their notification obligations and need to further strengthen guidance and consolidate responsibilities.
From the perspective of user account selection and usage, industry insiders recommend that users proactively check and unbind their commonly used Internet application accounts before canceling or transferring accounts to avoid leaking personal information or account assets due to number transfer.
If you encounter problems such as harassment and misinformation related to secondary numbers, you can first apply to unbind related applications through the "Secondary Number Renewal" service. If you encounter illegal collection or harassment, it is recommended to keep the evidence and report it to the 12378 Banking and Insurance Consumer Complaint and Rights Protection Hotline, the public security agency or the Internet Information Department, and safeguard your own rights and interests in accordance with the law.
Communications operators said that in the next step, they will cooperate with the competent authorities to further expand the application scope of the "secondary number renewal" service, strengthen the construction of mutual recognition systems with various enterprises, and promote more Internet application platforms to access the unbundling platform. (over)
