Two signs of status in the UAE:

1. A license plate with three digits or fewer.

2. A mobile phone with a “distinctive” number.

Like, say, 052 222 2222.

One Emirati liked that number so much that he won a bidding war for it tonight and is handing over to a local telecom 8,010,000 dirhams — or $2.18 million — for the pleasure of having eight consecutive 2s on his cell phone.

Conspicuous consumption?

A very UAE, very Dubai concept.

This is the land of $200,000 sports cars and $1,000 handbags and seven-star hotels.

It is no great surprise, then, that someone would spend nearly $2.2 million for a phone number that ends in 2222222.

The story linked (above) from The National suggests “credulity” was stretched, but maybe not.

The opening bid was a million dirhams — $272,000. As the one-hour bidding war went on, sometimes the price jumped by 500,000 dirhams.

The auction was held by du, the Dubai-based telecom, which sold off 70 “distinctive” numbers, including one with five consecutive fives in it.

From The National’s story:

Du’s chief commercial officer, Fahad Al Hassani, said the demand for unique, memorable numbers was prevalent across the country.

“There is a lot of good numbers for cars, and good numbers for mobile phones,” he said.

“We have had many situations where we can’t give people the numbers they want. We decided that the most fair way to deal with that is to offer 70 distinctive numbers and allow anyone to bid on them.”

So, what does the man who has everything buy himself?

A one-of-a-kind phone number … so the rest of us know just how much “stuff” he must have.