A special mobile phone number has been auctioned in Qatar for 10 million riyals ($2.8 million), the state-owned news agency QNA said. Eight participants at an auction dinner held in Doha by the national telecommunications company Qtel pushed up the stakes for the number 6666666, which was being offered for the first time.
The identity of the highest bidder was not divulged. Proceeds from the sale will go towards a charity project to upgrade the sewerage system in one of the Gulf Arab state's less-privileged regions, it added.
Qatar has the world's third largest gas reserves, and is currently enjoying an unprecedented economic boom thanks to record energy prices. It has a population of 750,000, of whom only some 150,000 are nationals.