Beijing Mobile’s Plan for Real Name Registration for Easyown Cell Phone Numbers

According to New Beijing News, He Ning, the CEO of Beijing Mobile, said that real name registration will be enacted by the Easyown (Shenzhou Xing) cell phone numbers this year. This means residents will have to reveal their ID to buy cell phone numbers and will not be able to purchase more than three numbers per person.

China Mobile, Beijing Mobile’s parent company, announced that Easyown is the largest brand and covers 70% of China Mobile cell phone customers. Easyown used to be competitive for its convenience in purchasing and recharging anywhere all over China.

In late 2007, Easyown started to adopt changes, such as only allowing local cell phones to be charged within the same province. If in 2008 Easyown launches the real name registration, Easyown seems to be taking an opposite track from the past. Also, real name registration is debatable because while some people feel it will increase transparency, others feel it will reduce privacy of the cell phone customers.