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NAD Participates in FCC 10-Digit Numbering Workshop
By advocacy | May 10, 2008
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) hosted a “Numbering Solutions Stakeholder Workshop” on April 29, 2008. This all-day session was attended by FCC and industry representatives, consumer advocates, and technical experts. The morning session began with industry representatives providing detailed overviews of the three proposals to provide real 10-digit telephone numbers for users of IP-based relay services (VRS, IP Relay, and IP Captioned Telephone Service): (1) the NeuStar Telephone numbers for Relay Users (TRU) proposal; (2) the GoAmerica/HOVRS/AT&T proposal with Dash Carrier Services; and (3) the CSDVRS One Numbering VoIP System (ONS) proposal. Following theses presentations, there was a short time remaining for a few questions and answers.
The afternoon session was kicked off by a panel of consumer advocates: Nancy Bloch, chief executive officer of the NAD; Claude Stout, executive director of TDI; and Sheri Farinha Mutti, chair of TDI’s E911 Stakeholders’ Council. They stated their expectations about moving towards functional equivalency, including the following: real 10-digit phone numbers; security; making and getting calls with any video device on an open, interconnected network; equipment neutrality and interoperability; number portability; number and location registration; prioritizing 911 calls; consumer outreach and education; flexibility to enable one 10-digit number for multiple devices; seamless implementation and transition to the new system; a system with an infrastructure that is able to move ahead and “ride the technology wave” of the future. Questions were raised about the time needed to implement different systems, how numbers would be obtained and distributed, and other issues.
The final panel of the day consisted of technical and other experts. The discussion focused on enhanced 911 (E911) and next generation 911 (NG911), prioritizing 911 calls made through relay services, security, emerging technology, and other issues. In the end, the discussion turned to continuing efforts of the industry groups to reach a consensus, possibly identifying and selecting features from the different proposals, and moving forward with interim implementation processes to test the various features of the different proposals.
The FCC is still committed to completing a final order on a 10-digit numbering plan by July 1, 2008, that will require the plan to be implemented by December 31, 2008.
Topics: General |