Issuing phone numbers, a failing public service.

The unreliable ID?

In many articles, the IT industry complains about the fussy nature of the phone number as a reliable ID. For example, in this article. What wend wrong?

The ITU It was original set up by governments to resolve international issues on standards for telecommunication. One of their standards is the Telephone numbering plan. This telephone numbering plan was set up in a time of fixed landlines, never considering mobile personal use.

Who has ownership?

Let's have a look at the international public telecommunication numbering plan E.164.

The first 3 digits are the country code or country calling code. Counties control the subscribers assignment in the networks of the member countries. So countries have jurisdiction over the subscriber assignment in the country networks.

In that regard, the county calling code is the jurisdiction code! National governments have ownership!

To me, it looks like governments fail to provide the public service we (the people) could expect from them. We should be able to obtain a phone endpoint subscriber number from our government. And link it to a service provider of our own liking. The telecom business had (in the fixed line area) a technical interest to be responsible for subscriber numbers in their network. But that is not the nature of the telecom business anymore.

Who (with deep pockets) is going to sue a government?

SIM Hijacking / SIM swap scam can only happen because the subscriber assignment responsible party (government) is not in the loop of mobile number portability. The governments don take their responsibility.

It is about time that companies as Twitter and Google are starting legal cases against governments not taking their responsibility.

How can governments ask for a check on the authentication of a Twitter account holder when they fail in taking responsibility for their role in number issuing?