Japan - NTT DoCoMo is offering VoIP phone numbers for use on tags on pets

[it wire] Japan's largest telco, NTT Com is offering citizens telephone numbers for their dogs, and other pets. The idea is not as daft as it might seem.

NTT Com is offering the numbers so owners can put these on their pet's tag rather than making their own real telephone number public to anyone who happens to pick up the pooch, moggie or whatever other pet has gone walkabout.

They are IP phone numbers, which in Japan begin with 050, and NTT Com is charging a fraction of the price of a real phone number. Calls made to the pet's number can be automatically forwarded to the customer’s private phone number or routed to a voicemail server and the owner notified via email. Phone numbers can also be blocked.

The pet's phone number is one of several IP phone services offered by NTT Com and marketed under the trade name 050 Anshin (Safe) Number.

Seems like an idea that Australian VoIP service providers could take up. There must be many cases where people want to advertise a number on which they can be contacted without making their regular number public.

Every dog has its day - and some have phone numbers