Recent notification from NANPA's Central Office Code Administration indicates:
"On April 6, 2010, NANPA distributed a notification that the SOUTHMONT and WELCOME rate centers would be consolidated under the LEXINGTON rate center. NANPA HAS NOW BEEN INFORMED THAT THIS RATE CENTER CONSOLIDATION HAS BEEN CANCELLED."
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Friday, April 16, 2010
NANPA First Quarter 2010 Updates
In reviewing the First Quarter 2010 NANPA Newsletter, we found several items of interest and are recapping them for you below:
2009 NANP Resource Status Update
- NPA Codes --
~~ Seven area codes were assigned in 2009: 938/Alabama, 849/Dominican Republic, 531/Nebraska, 579/Quebec, 721/Sint Maarten, 249/Ontario, and 327/Arkansas.
~~ Eight area codes went into service in 2009: 681/West Virginia, 385/Utah, 747/California, 849/Dominican Republic, 872/Illinois, 442/California, 475/Connecticut, and 533/relief of PCS 500. - Central Office Code Activity – 2,144 central office codes were assigned by NANPA, with 534 codes returned/reclaimed.
NANPA Nuggets
- The "Numbering Resource Utilization in the United States" report, utilizing NRUF data of as of 6/30/09, was released by the FCC and can be found at http://www.fcc.gov/wcb/iatd/recent.html.
- The FCC was notified by DSMI, the designated Toll Free Administrator, of the projected exhaust of current toll free numbers. Approval was requested to release the 855 NPA code, with an availability timeframe of no later than 4Q2011.
- The 2009 NANPA Annual Report, which "provides an excellent summary of the status of all NANP resources, addresses NANPA’s quality assurance measurements, and includes a summary of numbering activities over the past year", is now available on NANPA’s website.
For more NANPA news and resources, visit http://www.nanpa.com.
Friday, April 9, 2010
NANPA Announces North Carolina 336 Rate Center Consolidation
Effective 7/1/10, the following rate center consolidation will take place in North Carolina:
- The SOUTHMONT and WELCOME rate centers will be consolidated under the LEXINGTON rate center.
- NC 336-798 SOUTHMONT will become 336-798 LEXINGTON
- NC 336-537 SOUTHMONT will become 336-537 LEXINGTON
- NC 336-731 WELCOME will become 336-731 LEXINGTON
- NC 336-619 WELCOME will become 336-619 LEXINGTON
For additional information, visit www.nanpa.com.
Monday, April 5, 2010
Tele-Tech to Convene VoIP Customer Advisory Council
As our presence in the VoIP market segment continues to grow, Tele-Tech is assembling current and potential customers from the VoIP arena to participate in our VoIP Customer Advisory Council. The group will have quarterly-virtual meetings to advise Tele-Tech on the use of our current databases in the VoIP industry, provide feedback on potential development of new data sets to meet the needs of this market, and provide a general discussion forum for issues related to VoIP billing and efficiently routing calls onto the PSTN.
Last year, Tele-Tech launched the first of our customer advisory groups to address Intercarrier Compensation issues. The success of that Council led us to broaden the scope of the program to add additional groups representing other segments of our customer base and the telecom industry.
If you’re interested in meeting with peers quarterly to discuss VoIP billing and PSTN interconnect ideas as part of Tele-Tech’s VoIP Customer Advisory Council, please contact Kimberly Russo at krusso@telecomdb.com.
Last year, Tele-Tech launched the first of our customer advisory groups to address Intercarrier Compensation issues. The success of that Council led us to broaden the scope of the program to add additional groups representing other segments of our customer base and the telecom industry.
If you’re interested in meeting with peers quarterly to discuss VoIP billing and PSTN interconnect ideas as part of Tele-Tech’s VoIP Customer Advisory Council, please contact Kimberly Russo at krusso@telecomdb.com.
The National Broadband Plan and Its Effect on Intercarrier Compensation
The details of the FCC’s National Broadband Plan have been, for the most part, widely reported since its release in mid-March. But one part of the plan of critical importance to many Tele-Tech customers has garnered little media attention. The broadband plan calls for the elimination of per-minute intercarrier compensation (ICC) charges over a ten-year period.
Most would agree that the current system is unsustainable. The reduction in the number of minutes, arbitrage in the form of phantom traffic and traffic pumping, and the financial incentive to force IP traffic onto the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to collect access charges all lead to a system that is in need of improvement. The National Broadband Plan addresses these issues and presents a plan for reform.
In the plan, the FCC recommends a three-stage “glide path” that eliminates per-minute ICC charges within ten years and establishes interim solutions to taper arbitrage created by the inadequacies of the current system.
Stage one, which takes place in 2010 and 2011, is the planning period. During this period, the FCC expects to adopt a framework for long-term ICC reform that gradually lowers per minute rates until they hit zero.
During stage one, the FCC also recommends the development of interim rules to reduce arbitrage. As an example, the FCC mentions the possibilities of prohibiting carriers from masking or stripping information necessary for billing, and adopting rules to reduce access stimulation, also known as traffic pumping. No additional detail is included on how the FCC plans to prohibit these activities. Further, the plan calls for the FCC to address ICC rules related to VoIP traffic.
Stage two, taking place from 2012–2016, is when the reforms adopted during stage one will be implemented. Carriers’ intrastate terminating switched access rates, the highest of rates under the current regime, will be gradually reduced to a level equal to the current interstate terminating switched access rates over a period of two to four years. This can mean a 65% to 80% drop in per-minute charges for intrastate switched access depending on the type of carrier. After the intrastate rates have been reduced to interstate levels, the FCC could reduce interstate rates to reciprocal compensation rate levels. This is expected to result in equal per-minute terminating rates for all carriers.
Stage three takes place from 2017-2020. In this final stage, the plans expects that the “elimination of per-minute above-cost charges should encourage carriers to negotiate alternative compensation arrangements for the transport and termination of voice and data traffic.”
ICC is a major revenue stream for many carriers, particularly those serving rural areas. As per-minute ICC charges are phased out, the FCC plans to offset this revenue loss by allowing gradual increases in the subscriber line charge (SLC). And, federal subsidies will remain available under the newly created Connect America Fund (CAF). The plan states, “When calculating support levels under the new CAF, the FCC could impute residential local rates that meet an established benchmark. Doing so would encourage carriers and states to ‘rebalance’ rates to move away from artificially low $8 - $12 residential rates that represent old implicit subsidies to levels that are more consistent with cost.”
As we’ve seen in previous attempts to reform ICC, any plan is likely to be challenged. This time, the FCC recommends, within the plan, that Congress could amend the Communications Act to make the FCC’s authority to reform ICC explicit, which could reduce some of the legal challenges to the FCC’s planned actions.
We want to hear your thoughts on the FCC’s ICC reform plan. Please join the conversation and let us know what you think!
Most would agree that the current system is unsustainable. The reduction in the number of minutes, arbitrage in the form of phantom traffic and traffic pumping, and the financial incentive to force IP traffic onto the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) to collect access charges all lead to a system that is in need of improvement. The National Broadband Plan addresses these issues and presents a plan for reform.
In the plan, the FCC recommends a three-stage “glide path” that eliminates per-minute ICC charges within ten years and establishes interim solutions to taper arbitrage created by the inadequacies of the current system.
Stage one, which takes place in 2010 and 2011, is the planning period. During this period, the FCC expects to adopt a framework for long-term ICC reform that gradually lowers per minute rates until they hit zero.
During stage one, the FCC also recommends the development of interim rules to reduce arbitrage. As an example, the FCC mentions the possibilities of prohibiting carriers from masking or stripping information necessary for billing, and adopting rules to reduce access stimulation, also known as traffic pumping. No additional detail is included on how the FCC plans to prohibit these activities. Further, the plan calls for the FCC to address ICC rules related to VoIP traffic.
Stage two, taking place from 2012–2016, is when the reforms adopted during stage one will be implemented. Carriers’ intrastate terminating switched access rates, the highest of rates under the current regime, will be gradually reduced to a level equal to the current interstate terminating switched access rates over a period of two to four years. This can mean a 65% to 80% drop in per-minute charges for intrastate switched access depending on the type of carrier. After the intrastate rates have been reduced to interstate levels, the FCC could reduce interstate rates to reciprocal compensation rate levels. This is expected to result in equal per-minute terminating rates for all carriers.
Stage three takes place from 2017-2020. In this final stage, the plans expects that the “elimination of per-minute above-cost charges should encourage carriers to negotiate alternative compensation arrangements for the transport and termination of voice and data traffic.”
ICC is a major revenue stream for many carriers, particularly those serving rural areas. As per-minute ICC charges are phased out, the FCC plans to offset this revenue loss by allowing gradual increases in the subscriber line charge (SLC). And, federal subsidies will remain available under the newly created Connect America Fund (CAF). The plan states, “When calculating support levels under the new CAF, the FCC could impute residential local rates that meet an established benchmark. Doing so would encourage carriers and states to ‘rebalance’ rates to move away from artificially low $8 - $12 residential rates that represent old implicit subsidies to levels that are more consistent with cost.”
As we’ve seen in previous attempts to reform ICC, any plan is likely to be challenged. This time, the FCC recommends, within the plan, that Congress could amend the Communications Act to make the FCC’s authority to reform ICC explicit, which could reduce some of the legal challenges to the FCC’s planned actions.
We want to hear your thoughts on the FCC’s ICC reform plan. Please join the conversation and let us know what you think!
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