Opinion: Time to re-think telephone numbers

The ACMA has commenced a wide ranging inquiry into Australia's telephone numbering scheme, starting with the release of one discussion paper and a promise of three more to come.

The ACMA identifies a number of motives in undertaking the review. One is the observation that a telephone number used for a VoIP service is only an address and not an identifier of a specific physical connection.

The recent publicity of the fact that freephone

Another is the recent publicity of the fact that "freephone" and "local rate" numbers (1800 and 1300) are incorrect designations descriptions of these services, as they cost a lot more to call from a mobile.

We take telephone numbers for granted these days, as if it is natural that you need to dial a number. But increasingly we use internet services that use names (e.g. URLs and e-mail addresses) or rely upon directories stored locally to use a name to make a connection.

Return to the earliest methods of telephony

In some ways it's a return to the earliest methods of telephony. You asked the local switchboard operator for the person by name. It was only the advent of automatic switching that introduced the use of numbers for different exchanges. The advent of automated long distance calling required the development of a numbering plan covering the whole country, which was one component of the Community Telephone Plan of 1960.

This is one factor that leads the ACMA to start speculating that numbers are losing their geographic significance. The second is that the effect of competition has largely collapsed the long distance charging bands, and that many plans, especially VoIP services, make no local versus long distance distinction.

The trouble for the numbering plan is that this right applies not only to those with a VoIP service but to people ringing someone with a VoIP service. So it is not possible to move away from "geographic" numbers for voice services without legislative change.

The ACMA's first attempt to address the issue of numbers and internet supported services was the ENUM project, which is now consigned to merely a footnote in the discussion paper.

This was an IETF attempt to create a map from ITU-E.164 (telephone) numbers to various IP addresses using the DNS [Directory Name Server]. In effect a URL was created for each number so that the DNS could retain information about that number, most notably its IP address for a VoIP service.

The ACMA has also attempted to create a new number range for "nomadic" numbers - for VoIP numbers of no fixed location. However, numbers are only one part of the regulatory framework for creating services. They also need to be incorporated in the interconnect standards. An important part of those standards is not just information to be carried in signalling, but at which Point of Interconnect (POI) the call is handed over.

Simple example

As a simple example, if I am in Sydney and I call a customer of another network who is in Perth using their geographic number, my provider carries the call to the POI in Perth. But if I'm calling the person (in Perth) on a freephone or local rate number, my provider hands the call over in Sydney (my provider doesn't know they are in Perth).

This overlap between numbering and interconnect lies at the heart of the mobile and freephone problem. There used to be the appropriate "declared service" - but the ACCC revoked the declaration because it was unused.

While the ACMA is dedicating a great deal of effort to considerations of telephone numbering, it only mentions in passing the issue of IPv4 numbering expiry.

The Communications Minister

The Communications Minister, for example, has previously committed during the election to a Convergent Communications Review and last month told the National Commercial Radio Conference that the review will consider how the regulatory framework applies to communications services in a converged environment. The review will also seek to identify appropriate licensing regulations, regulatory obligations and consumer protection arrangements across a range of media platforms, including radio."