When a mobile number becomes your identity

Follow us:WhatsappFacebookTwitterTelegram.cls-1{fill:#4d4d4d;}.cls-2{fill:#fff;}Google NewsThis happened to me at the fag end of 2006 when I was recollecting the best movies I saw in that very year. It's here where Leonardo DiCaprio's words in 'The Departed' came calling in, "I want my identity back!" Ever since then, I have had this peculiar connection between these words and the battle for Hutch taking on me. What rights do the boardroom mandarins, who are slugging day in and day out for Hutch India' buyout, have over my mobile no. if I happen to be a hitherto loyal Hutch Subscriber.

Regardless of who wins this hyped yet mundane battle of buyouts, the problem lies with the fact that there would be many like me who just don't want to have the future of their mobile numbers with Hutch Suitor A or Hutch suitor B. Or should I set the record straight, say if Hutch India goes to Reliance, what about those Hutch subscribers who loath Reliance mobile services out of their past experience. Or if Hutch India goes to Ruias, some fellow subscribers have all the rights to question the future technological prowess of the company.

Permutations combinations can be aplenty but the oxymoron lays in the fact the telecom policy cum set up is denying us what should have been with us long back, simple enough number mobility. Agreed, number mobility is no cake walk, it took U.S good enough time to implement the same. Here in India, TRAI and Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and other no so fringe stakeholders like BSNL & MTNL are yet to come at terms with respect to access deficit charge and stuff.

Whichever ways be it, there has to be a radical change as to how we approach things. A mobile no. might just be a no. for a particular company or TRAI but for most of the subscribers it is very central to their identities. It's about our very being. If I was to draw an analogy, it would be with the Kashmir problem (not dispute, an Indian that I am). Kashmir is not just a territorial dispute or Bharaymata's glory mukut. It's also about the ethos and psyches of people inhabiting the paradise under siege. Same applies to our cell numbers, it's we who give identity to our numbers and our numbers in turn reciprocate by becoming central to our identities.

Shareholders have all the rights to sell their stakes in any company. But what can't be condoned is that in case of companies providing utility services is the being of other stakeholders who are not necessarily shareholders. Subscribers definitely deserve a better deal. They are asking for nothing more than an exit option. Let them decide which cell company shall service their numbers. If Mr. Ambani can afford his oft-repeated trips to Tirupati for seeking divine intervention to wrest Hutch India and if Mr. Sareen can afford his timely untimely rounds of North block, none of the hapless subscriber would mind shelling out a reasonable onetime alimony to divorce his existing cell co. and flirt with another I hope of a better future. It ought to be a free and fair world.
About the AuthorNikhil Khanna a...Read Morefirst published:January 27, 2007, 02:24 ISTlast updated:January 27, 2007, 02:24 IST
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