FCS Numbering Group Establishes Objectives

(PRLEAP.COM) London, 14 June 2006 - The new FCS Numbering Group was setup in April 2006 to provide a collective representative voice for numbering providers, their resellers and others associated with the telephony market. The Group has set out a series of objectives to ensure that there is a fair open and competitive environment and to promote best practice and standards for number service providers.

Recently appointed chairman of the Group, Kieron James, Managing Director of Zimo Communications, said, “Ofcom has consulted on both Number Translation Services (NTS) and its Numbering Review, which are inextricably linked. We are considering closely Ofcom’s NTS statement issued on 19 April, since parts of the NTS decision on 0870 appear to be at odds with their proposals in the review.”

Ofcom’s Numbering Review is the fourth of the major sector reviews to be carried out by Ofcom. Ofcom aims to provide greater clarity for callers by linking number prefixes to identifiable services set out in the proposed Numbering Plan:

While Ofcom has put emphasis on consumer understanding in its review, the Numbering Group has responded by identifying issues from the perspective of the number suppliers. Everyone has welcomed the intention to provide a clear numbering policy for the UK.

The group pointed out that issues raised by this consultation are interlinked with Ofcom’s work in other areas of telephony such as the development of a policy for VoIP and Consumer Policy in general. The timescales for changes in number policy envisaged by the Review will parallel the growth of VoIP services in the residential and business markets, and customer perceptions of numbers. The group requested a clear overall statement that draws all of these issues together.

The response continued: We believe that a priority policy objective for Ofcom’s consumer protection regime ought to be the ease of migration (including number portability) for consumers from one company to another.

For our members the regulation of 0870 is of great importance. We welcome the innovative proposal for a new 03 national range, which will be ideal for public bodies and for businesses to permit them to accommodate disaster recovery or moving premises and general re-routing of calls. We are convinced however that more thought is needed on Ofcom’s proposals for 0870. The proposals in the NTS statement appear inconsistent with the proposals for price linked numbers set out in the Review. Our recommendation is that 0870 numbers that include an added value service in the call charge continue unchanged; including revenue share, but those 0870 numbers with no added services will be able to migrate to 03 over time.

We fully support the proposal to extend the tariffing provisions of the Numbering Plan so that they apply to customers of all providers on all types of network.

The geographic meaning of numbers will inevitably depreciate over time as IP services grow. To ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of changes to the Numbering Plan we believe that Ofcom should conduct a national awareness campaign.

More information about the group can be found at www.fcs.org.uk/groups/fcs/numbering.asp or by e-mail to numbering@fcs.org.uk

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