N. American Numbering Council (NANC) got good and bad news from n...
N. American Numbering Council (NANC) got good and bad news from numbering administrators at its meeting Tues. at FCC hq. Serious problem of depletion of telephone numbers has eased somewhat, but only because of economic situation that has driven…
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
If your job depends on informed compliance, you need International Trade Today. Delivered every business day and available any time online, only International Trade Today helps you stay current on the increasingly complex international trade regulatory environment.
many CLECs out of business -- and freed up their phone numbers, John Manning, product manager for N. American Numbering Plan Administration (NANPA) told NANC members. CLEC demise has resulted in another new problem, Manning told NANC members. Many defunct CLECs used blocks of numbers that served customers with ported phone numbers. Unless new carrier is willing to take over entire block on numbers, individual customers can’t be ported any more, meaning they would lose their current phone numbers. Manning said it was working with carrier groups on interim approach to improve process of returning number blocks, known as codes. It’s “refreshing” to be talking about how to absorb additional numbers into pool instead of usual concerns about when supply will exhaust, CTIA Gen. Counsel Michael Altshul said. Manning said NANPA also was having trouble with routine task of making number exhaustion projections because of unusual industry situation. He said usual procedure is to compare current year over last one, but recent years have been aberrations. Demand was higher than ever before in 1999 but in 2001 numbers were being returned in far greater quantities, he said. Neustar acts as NANPA under contract with FCC and its costs are borne by telecom industry. NANC is advisory group composed of carriers, state regulators, others.