IP Relay 10-Digit Numbering Plan Follows AT&T-GoAmerica Proposal
An FCC order on a 10-digit numbering plan for IP relay services most closely resembles a system pitched by AT&T and GoAmerica, but also incorporates elements of other proposals, the FCC said. The order, released late Tuesday, recommends a single database of phone numbers and IP addresses, maintained by a neutral party. Access would be limited to IP relay providers, the FCC said. But the FCC didn’t throw out proposals by NeuStar and CSDVRS. “We find that no single Industry Proposal represents the best implementation of a centralized numbering directory mechanism, but instead find that a combination of different elements” is appropriate, the FCC said.
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The FCC adopted the 10-digit plan earlier this month (CD June 13 p8). Once implemented, TRS users will be able to use 10-digit phone numbers to call and be called by hearing and TRS users, the FCC said. The order also requires providers to obtain and maintain information on their users’ physical locations, and to automatically route emergency calls. IP Relay providers have until Dec. 31 to comply. An attached further notice seeks comment on the potential application of slamming, CPNI and other related rules to IP relay.
The CSDVRS proposal posed “significant security risks” not present in other proposals, the FCC said. Unlike the NeuStar and AT&T-GoAmerica plans, which limited directory access to “a limited set of registered entities,” the CSDVRS plan put numbers on the open Internet for access by all TRS users, the FCC said. The FCC also doubted “the feasibility and cost” of the CSDVRS plan’s requirement that all end user equipment be modified before the Dec. 31 implementation deadline.
But the FCC preferred the AT&T-GoAmerica proposal to NeuStar’s, it said. By creating a single database accessible by all IP relay providers, the AT&T plan provides “an easier and more flexible path to modifying the information in the central database,” it said. NeuStar recommended a multiple- database system in which relay providers must work with other relay providers to complete calls to those providers’ customers.
“This ruling is a breakthrough for accessibility and functional equivalency for millions of Americans who are deaf or hard of hearing,” said Ed Routhier, GoAmerica president. NeuStar declined to comment. CSDVRS didn’t respond a request for comment.
Commissioners unanimously backed the order. “Ten-digit numbering will enable Internet-based TRS users to make and receive calls like anyone else, eradicating another barrier that stands in the way of functional equivalency,” said FCC Chairman Kevin Martin in a statement. Commissioner Michael Copps agreed, but emphasized the need for consumer outreach. There will be “many questions, probably some concerns, and inevitably I fear some confusion as we move to the system adopted today,” he said. “It’s incumbent upon the FCC, providers, and consumer advocacy organizations to engage in a coordinated campaign to inform the disability community.”
TRS providers will obtain North American Numbering Plan phone numbers from carriers, the same way interconnected VoIP carriers get numbers, the FCC said. Users are assigned geographically appropriate numbers, and they may port them to other providers, it said.
Also Tuesday, the FCC released an NPRM on Internet-based speech-to-speech services, tentatively concluding the service should get TRS Fund subsidies (CD June 13 p9). The FCC also asks how to improve provision of the service. “IP STS has the potential to allow a broader range of individuals to communicate,” Martin said. “By not being constrained to a specific piece of equipment that resides in a particular location, users of this service would have tremendous flexibility in how and where they use this service.”