WASHINGTON — After years of anonymity, the numbers of most of the nation's mobile phones will be compiled later this year in the first wireless directory.
The database being assembled by the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Assn. is expected to include about 75% of the 163 million mobile phones in the United States, making looking up a wireless number as easy as dialing 411.
The association is pitching the directory as a boon for real estate agents and other on-the-go professionals who want people to be able to find their mobile numbers.
But privacy advocates, some members of Congress and even a major cellular carrier -- Verizon Wireless -- fear that mobile phones, once immune to telemarketers and e-mail spammers, could become as vulnerable as home telephone lines and computer in-boxes.
"The world of telecommunications continues to change, and every day wireless becomes a more significant part of our world," CTIA President Steve Largent said. "This system will provide consumers an opportunity to opt in, if they choose."
Critics counter that the promise of consumer choice is disingenuous because many cellphone service contracts contain clauses that give permission to publish numbers.
They predict that there will be the kind of spam deluge that already plagues mobile users in Europe and Asia, where full- featured phones are more common than in the United States. Beyond that, it's unclear whether people would be on the hook to pay for unwanted calls and e-mails.
Many mobile phone customers pay for the airtime on incoming calls, e-mails and text messages.
Wireless carriers say they doubt there will be widespread abuse. They point out that most mobile phones come equipped with caller ID, distinctive ring tones, call blocking and other tools to manage unwanted calls. And several carriers say they have made refunds to subscribers who have received unwanted calls.
Even so, "I don't want the world to know my cellphone number," said Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R-Pa.), who has introduced a bill to prevent wireless phone companies from automatically including customers in the directory without getting their permission and from charging customers if they want unlisted numbers. "This is a big privacy issue."
It's also a big money issue for an industry suffering through brutal price wars. A wireless directory could generate as much as $3 billion a year in fees and additional minutes by 2009, according to a study conducted by consulting firm Zelos Group Inc.
