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  • Presumably there is a finite number

    The theoretical maximum number of UK mobile numbers as we use them now (07xxxxxxxxx) is 10⁹, so we shouldn't be close to exhausting them yet. About 5×10⁸ have been issued so far, but we're ripping through them ever faster as more and more things get mobile connectivity (cars, utility meters, security systems, basically anything where remote monitoring is required)

    how often do mobile phone number get reused?

    All the time. Apparently only 10-20% of issued numbers are still active (must be more people using burners than we thought), so inactive ones get deactivated and thrown back into the pool to be reissued.

  • Not all 07xxx numbers are mobile numbers, only 071 -075, 077 - 079, 076 are pager numbers (Try buying one now though).

    Also 070 are personal numbers, and are charged differently to mobiles.

    Also, a tiny number of them (07700 900xxx) numbers don't exist, and are for use in films etc, like 555 numbers in the US.

  • Not all 07xxx numbers are mobile numbers

    I'd forgotten about pagers (even though I had one back in the 90s) and those stupid 070 'personal' numbers. That leaves a bit less than 8×10⁸ issuable mobile phone numbers, which is only about 10 per person given that population is likely to hit 7×10⁷. It's pretty tight if much of the internet of things is going to be connected over the mobile network.

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