Geographic Telephone Numbers Safeguarding the Future of Geographic Numbers (Redacted for Publication)
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Geographic telephone numbers Safeguarding the future of geographic numbers (Redacted for publication) Consultation Publication date: 25 November 2010 Closing Date for Responses: 18 February 2011 Geographic telephone numbers Contents Section Page 1 Summary 1 2 Introduction 7 3 Geographic numbers: background and current challenges 15 4 Providing new supplies of geographic numbers 28 5 Reducing the need for new supplies of geographic numbers 46 6 Charging for geographic numbers 58 7 Summary of proposals and next steps 86 Annex Page 1 The UK numbering plan and geographic numbers 92 2 Data analysis and forecasting 95 3 Detailed assessment of geographic number supply options 114 4 Cost recovery for number charges when the CP using the number is different from the range holder 129 5 Charging for geographic numbers: European comparisons 138 6 Legal Framework 142 7 Consultation questions 146 8 Responding to this consultation 149 9 Ofcom’s consultation principles 151 10 Consultation response cover sheet 152 Geographic telephone numbers Section 1 1 Summary 1.1 Telephone numbers are fundamental to how residential consumers and businesses use and access telecommunications services. They are a critical national resource. Geographic numbers are fixed-line telephone numbers that begin with the digits ‘01’ and ‘02’. They are widely recognised, valued and trusted by consumers. 1.2 Ofcom is responsible for administering this essential resource and for ensuring that sufficient numbers are available for us to allocate to communications providers (‘CPs’) so that they can provide a choice of services to consumers. 1.3 This consultation invites your views on changes we are proposing to make to how we manage geographic numbers. The proposals are designed to maintain our ability to meet CPs’ future requirements for geographic numbers in all areas of the UK. Importantly, this document does not propose changes to any geographic telephone numbers currently in use. Nor is there a risk that numbers will not be available to meet consumers’ needs. 1.4 The fundamental aim of our proposals is to ensure that consumers’ choice of CPs will not be restricted when they want new phone services. Competition has driven many of the benefits that users of telecommunication services currently enjoy. Our proposals are designed to ensure that competition is not constrained in future by the availability of geographic numbers. At the same time, we intend to limit the impact on consumers of measures that may be needed to maintain such unrestricted choice. We propose to achieve this by implementing new mechanisms to manage the allocation and use of telephone numbers. 1.5 If, subject to this consultation, we go ahead with our proposals, they would mean, that: • phone users in some areas would need to dial the area code when making local calls from fixed-line phones at some point in the future. This would create more numbers in the areas concerned, by allowing use of numbers in which the first digit after the area code is either ‘0’ or ‘1’; • CPs would pay, initially in a pilot scheme, for geographic numbers allocated to them in area codes where there are particular concerns about scarcity. The purpose of doing this would be to increase CPs’ incentives to use geographic numbers efficiently, and hence to reduce the need to create more numbers in some areas; and • we would strengthen our administrative procedures for allocating geographic numbers to CPs and for following up on their use. Why we are proposing changes 1.6 We maintain forecasts of future availability of new geographic numbers for each of the UK’s 610 geographic area codes. Like any forecasts, they are subject to uncertainties. Demand and availability in specific areas is very difficult to forecast accurately. Nevertheless, the current forecasts suggest that if we do not make changes, we risk exhausting stocks of new geographic numbers to allocate to CPs from 2013 onwards, with potentially seven areas running out of new numbers before 1 Geographic telephone numbers 2015 and 70 area codes, covering about 21 per cent of the UK population, running out by 2020. We are proposing changes in order to prevent this from happening, because otherwise consumers’ choice of providers of new fixed-line services in the areas affected could be restricted, denying them the benefits of competition. 1.7 Competition in the provision of voice services has been developing strongly for many years, and there are now some 300 CPs which have allocations of geographic numbers. Under current arrangements, a CP that needs new numbers in an area generally applies to us for a new allocation while a large number of other CPs hold stocks of unused numbers with the same area code. Since our supplies of new numbers in any area code are finite, this could lead to exhaustion of our supplies in some area codes, even though the total quantity of numbers already held by CPs for those areas would exceed local consumers’ needs. If this were to happen, consumers could still obtain phone services with new local numbers, but only from CPs with unused numbers from previous allocations. 1.8 We currently allocate geographic numbers, without charge, by area code to all CPs that meet eligibility requirements for local numbers. Capacity limitations in older equipment used in some networks require us to allocate numbers in blocks of 1,000 contiguous numbers. An allocation of this size is often larger than the CP requires. While any numbers from the block are in use, the CP cannot return the block to us for allocation to any other CP. Some CPs authorise the use of their allocated numbers by other CPs in block sizes which can be smaller than 1,000 numbers through a commercial arrangement known as ’sub-allocation’. Such arrangements are not used widely even though they could improve the efficient utilisation of the geographic numbers we allocate. 1.9 Contrary to our expectations of a few years ago, the capacity limitations in some networks, which constrain our allocations to a minimum block of 1,000 numbers, are not likely to be relieved in the foreseeable future. This is because some CPs’ investments in next-generation network (‘NGN’) technology, which would be capable of removing the limitations, have not progressed at the rate then expected. 1.10 Although new local numbers would continue to be available even in areas where we might exhaust our supply of blocks of new numbers, exhaustion would imply that competition, and entry into the market by new CPs, could be reduced. We must therefore consider what changes would be appropriate in order to make sure that geographic numbers across the UK can support competition in fixed-line services for the foreseeable future and that their value to consumers is safeguarded, taking account of existing network constraints. Objectives and approach 1.11 Our central objective is to ensure that geographic numbers continue to be available to support competition in fixed-line voice services in the foreseeable future. In considering how to achieve this we are particularly mindful that any option for creating new supplies of geographic numbers would involve some disruption to consumers, which we seek to minimise. 1.12 One part of our approach, therefore, is to seek to reduce the need for new supplies by proposing appropriate changes to our policies and procedures that could have the effect of reducing our rate of allocation of geographic numbers to CPs. 1.13 Despite such changes, however, we consider that we will require new supplies of geographic numbers in some areas in the future. We are therefore at the same time 2 Geographic telephone numbers considering options for providing new supplies of geographic numbers that could be implemented with the least disruption over time. Our proposals We propose to create new supplies of geographic numbers 1.14 The lead times associated with creating more geographic numbers are lengthy and we must therefore agree the most appropriate means to create more numbers now so that plans are ready when they are needed. We propose options to achieve this, setting out possible solutions that could be applied generally wherever new supplies of geographic numbers are needed. Stakeholders are invited to submit their views on any aspect of these proposals, as well as any ideas for alternative or localised solutions. During the course of the consultation, we intend to organise open forums to discuss the proposed options in some parts of the UK likely to be affected in the short term. 1.15 A detailed implementation plan will be necessary to apply the chosen options effectively. Following the conclusion of this consultation we propose to establish an industry forum to develop this plan, including: • an appropriate communications campaign; • notice periods for changes and relevant timelines for implementation; • the guidelines for automatic responses to misdials; • direct consultation with consumers in the affected areas; and • any other relevant aspects of implementation that may be raised by stakeholders in this consultation. 1.16 The approach to increase the supply of geographic numbers that we currently prefer would require consumers in some areas to include the area code when dialling local phone numbers from their fixed-line phones. We refer to this approach as ’closing local dialling’ because it removes local consumers’ current ability to dial local numbers without the area code. It would allow us to release for use numbers which start with ‘0’ and ‘1’, and thus increase substantially the quantity of local numbers. Call charges would not be affected by this change. We prefer closing local dialling over other options that we could adopt for creating new supplies of local numbers because consumers who participated in qualitative research on our proposed options strongly preferred it.