Vonage Presses Six-Year-Old Case for Direct Access to Numbers
Vonage is pressing the FCC to allow for direct access to phone numbers from the North American Numbering Plan or the pooling administrator. In a letter dated Tuesday but published on the FCC website Thursday, Vonage renewed a 2005 petition for direct access to numbers, saying that it will help Vonage “deploy innovative services” and “drive down costs” to customers.
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.
Vonage is willing to abide by conditions similar to those imposed on SBC Internet Services in January, 2005, Vonage said in its letter. In that order, the commission waived Section 52.15(g)(2)(i) of the FCC’s rules and allowed SBC Internet Services direct access to numbers “despite being an interconnected VoIP provider rather than a state-certified common carrier,” Vonage said in its letter. SBC agreed to abide by rules on number porting, releasing unused numbers, and managing its number inventory, Vonage said.
"In its order granting the waiver,” Vonage said in its letter, “the commission stated that ‘[to] the extent other entities seek similar relief we would grant such relief to an extent comparable to what we set forth in this Order.'” Vonage filed its first petition on March 4, 2005. “The commission has not yet acted on Vonage’s petition,” Vonage said. FCC officials didn’t respond to requests for comment by press time.
Without direct access to numbers, Vonage is handicapped in deploying technology, the company claimed. Offering customers advanced services like text messaging, for instance, requires cooperation and consent from third-party telcos, Vonage said. “Having to obtain consent and cooperation from these carriers hinders our ability to provide new services that use telephone numbers,” Vonage said. “Direct access to numbers will remove this obstacle and allow Vonage to offer existing and emerging services to its customers directly, increasing competition in the voice market and providing consumers with a more robust set of communications choices."
The third-party regime also drives up costs because it forces Voice over Internet Protocol providers like Vonage to pay wholesale telcos for numbers, the company said. “Allowing direct access will allow Vonage to capture these savings, and, given the highly competitive nature of the voice market, pass savings on to customers,” Vonage said.
Granting Vonage’s petition will also help the FCC reach its goal of transitioning to an all-IP network, the company said in its letter. “The commission has placed significant responsibilities on [VoIP] providers,” Vonage said. “First, the Commission ensured that interconnected VoIP customers enjoy the same freedom to port their telephone numbers as customers of traditional carriers. The commission subsequently required VoIP providers to assume LNP and numbering administration support obligations."
And Vonage said it will abide by the conditions imposed on SBC in the 2005 order. “Vonage can handle numbers -- and, in fact, already does,” the company said. “Though it must obtain numbers from a wholesale telecommunications carrier, Vonage today uses those numbers in ways that conform to industry numbering resource standards. For instance, Vonage meets the NANC requirements for number porting, releasing unused numbers, and managing its number inventory. Vonage is comfortable with these standards and responsibilities -- indeed, it owns IPv4 addresses and meets similar requirements in that context.”