Interconnected VoIP Providers Await Direct Access to Telephone Numbers
September 18, 2013 | by Andrew Regitsky
FCC Docket No. 13-97 - Industry Supports Permitting Interconnected VoIP Providers Direct Access to Telephone Numbers
By Andrew Regitsky, President, Regitsky & Associates
The industry has just filed its comments and reply comments regarding the FCC’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) proposing to allow VoIP providers that interconnect to the public switched telephone network (PSTN) direct access to North American Numbering Plan (NANP) telephone numbers, instead of through CLEC intermediaries as they do today.
This issue arises because VoIP carriers that permit their customers to make or receive calls from the PSTN over broadband connections need working telephone numbers. However, since the Commission has ducked the classification of these interconnected VoIP providers for years, most VoIP providers cannot directly obtain telephone numbers from number administrators since they cannot provide evidence of state certification as telecommunications providers. Currently, these providers generally obtain NANP numbers by purchasing wholesale service from a CLEC and then using these services to interconnect to the PSTN.
While most parties support the Commission’s proposal, this proceeding like so many, has become a forum for CLECs complaining that the Commission must address the issue of IP-to-IP interconnection. Parties note that the issue for interconnected VoIP isn’t so much the difficulty in obtaining telephone numbers (they get them), it is the fact that since they are not classified as telecommunications carriers the section 251 and 252 interconnection and pricing rules do not apply to them and therefore they continue to have difficulty obtaining economical interconnections with ILECs. As long as the FCC fails to address this classification issue, IP-to-IP interconnection will continue to be a major stumbling block delaying the benefits of advanced services to the public.
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