FCC Releases Order Granting VoIP Direct Numbering Access
The FCC released its order Monday giving interconnected VoIP providers direct numbering access, which was adopted Thursday 5-0 (see 1506180060). The 78-page order sets up a process to allow VoIP providers connected to traditional phone networks to obtain phone numbers…
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directly from numbering administrators rather than through telecom carrier intermediaries. It established various conditions "designed to minimize number exhaust and preserve the integrity of the numbering system." The FCC disagreed with commenters that said the agency had to classify interconnected VoIP service as a Title II telecom service under the Communications Act to give providers of the service direct numbering access. The FCC said nothing in Section 251(e) restricted the commission's numbering jurisdiction to telecom carriers. NARUC was among the most explicit and seemed to raise a litigation threat in warning the commission not to give interconnected VoIP providers direct numbering access without classifying their service under Title II (see 1506120013). Commissioner Mignon Clyburn said in her statement that the agency should decide the VoIP classification issue and stand by it. The FCC said arguments that it should address certain intercarrier compensation issues in the same order were "speculative" and "do not constitute sufficient grounds to delay VoIP direct numbering access." A footnote confirmed it declined to act on Level 3's proposals seeking to ensure CLECs can collect local switching access charges when completing the VoIP calls of providers with direct numbering access, as expected (see 1506190047). The order said Level 3 raised the issue a few days before the beginning of the sunshine period. The commission called its related VoIP symmetry rules complex and said it lacked an adequate record to fully evaluate Level 3 proposals and implications.