Fancy or vanity numbers offered by BSNL are being sought after by its mobile phone customers if the revenue garnered is any indication.
The demand for these easily-remembered numbers is so high that the most sought-after special numbers, ending with for instance 55555 or some other distinct pattern, are attracting bids of more than Rs 1 lakh, even up to Rs 1.50 lakh-plus.
Such premium numbers are allotted only through e-auction system, for which customers have to visit the website http://sancharsoft.bsnl.co.in, click the e-auction option available there and register names for the numbers of their choice.
Depending on the sequence of digits, starting prices are as low as Rs. 5,000 (it was Rs. 25,000 for 83000-00022) and they are ultimately sold for lakhs as customers prefer fancy numbers.
Assistant General Manager (Sales & Marketing) A. Koteswara Rao told The Hindu that like in any auction system, the highest bidders are given some time to make the payments and if they failed to do that, the numbers are allotted to those who quote the highest price.
Online bidsThe bids have to be obviously submitted (online) in a limited period.
The second half of the 10-digit GSM numbers are only given the fancy number tag. Numbers like those ending with 6677 or 7788 are manually allotted in the normal process (they are not auctioned) but they cost Rs. 843 each. Even these numbers are in good demand as many customers want to be instantly remembered through their numbers.
The eighth round of e-auction of premium numbers has recently come to an end (it was open from May 6 to 22) and the next round is likely to be opened some time in July as customers who got the numbers of their choice need to pay the money for activation. The fancy numbers are part of Value-Added Services portfolio of BSNL meant to face competition from its competitors.
