AGENDA
- Comments
on the Note of the last meeting
- Progress
in other Working Groups
- Allocation
& Number Trading Model
- Conclusions
- 09 Numbers
- Overall
Charging Structure
- Allocation
and Annual Rental Charges
- Pricing
Levels
- Auctions
- Short numbers
- Reservations
- Rules of
Use
- AOB
Working
Papers for 3rd Meeting on Charging for Individual Number Allocation
- 20 January 2000
SHORT PREMIUM-RATE NUMBERS – The Dutch Experience
Vikash
Ramnewash, OPTA, the Dutch Telecoms Regulator
It
is possible in the Netherlands to ask the National Regulatory Authority
for short numbers in both the 0800 and the 090x number ranges, so
it is not only the case with the premium-rate numbers (090x), but
also with toll-free numbers (0800). This practice began in 1997
with the gradual disappearance of the 06 number range, which are
not available for service numbers after 1 January 2000).
The
costs for these numbers are somewhat higher than for ordinary numbers
but not substantially so. They are all allocated on an individually.
The
fees for a number that contains 8 digits or fewer are:
Initial
Allocation 150 Dutch florin (£44.12)
Annual
Charge 150 Dutch florin
(£44.12)
The
fees for normal numbers, with more than 8 digits, are:
Initial
Allocation 30 Dutch florin (£8.82)
Annual
Charge 30 Dutch florin
(£8.82)
These
are not the only costs involved. It is possible to reserve short
numbers. Reservation fees are considerably lower.
OPTA
places on these short numbers some additional conditions that do
not apply to ordinary numbers. These are designed to prevent exhaustion
of this scarce resource. There have to be at least 10,000 calls
and 4,500 attempts per month. OPTA ensures that these conditions
are met by allocating short numbers only to those who can show they
will have this level of traffic to carry.
These
conditions are designed to make new, useful facilities available
to the market without creating substantial access barriers. The
numbers seem to be quite popular.
Norway
– Charging for numbers
1.
Do you charge at all for numbers other than the 5-digit series?
The
operators have to pay an annual fee related to the size of the number
blocks they have been allocated. The current fees are:
- NOK 0,10 pr. number pr. year for geographical and mobile numbers
- NOK 1,00 pr. number pr. year for non-geographical numbers (freephone,premium
rate etc.)
The
fees are supposed to cover our costs related to managing the numbering
plan.
There are also fees for other numbering resources like signalling
point codes, mobile network codes etc.
Do
operators charge as far as you know?
We
know that at least one of the mobile operators charges for "nice"
numbers. I suspect that most operators do this, it can't be a coincidence
that all the pizza companies have numbers like 22 22 22 22 and 22
55 55 55.
2.
What criteria did/do you use to price different qualities of numbers
within the 5-digit range? In particular, where does the cut-off
come between a special and an ordinary number? (Even if the criteria
are fairly "loose", your thoughts would be most interesting
to me.)
This is very subjective and we knew that there was no chance
in getting it right. We also did a market research.
We also used a document from the Hong Kong regulator which was quite
interesting, a consultation on "Special Number Arrangement"
from February 1997. I found the document on their web site, http://www.ofta.gov.hk.
You might have a look and see if you can find it or even some more
updated information.
The
basic criteria were
- Many 0's, like 02000, 03000, 02500, 03300
- Many equal digits, like 02222, 03333, 09111
- Patterns, symmetry, like 02345, 02220, 04114
- Pairs, like 02233, 04242
You
will get a fairly good idea of our thinking if you take a look at
the tables in Section 6 in our document "Prosedyre for tildeling
og bruk av 5-sifrede nummer i Norge". You will find a link
to the document from http://www.npt.no/5siffer.
Oystein might help you with translation if needed.
3.
Does legal or illegal number trading happen in Norway?If illegal,
what is done to prevent it? If legal, how does it operate?
5-digit numbers, however, can not be transferred between subscribers
without a written consent from us. We don't have any indication
that these numbers are being traded so far. It would probably be
quite easy to detect any illigal trading with 5-digit numbers since
these numbers normally will be used in connection with large marketing
campaigns.
4.
Why are there only 8,000 numbers? Are the 5-digit numbers not preceded
by a code of any kind to denote them as non-geographic?
As you might know we have a closed numbering plan in Norway. There
are no trunk prefixes. Local dialling is not possible. All ordinary
subscriber numbers are 8 digits, number series 2-9, and you have
to dial 8 digits no matter where you are in the country.
When
we moved from an open to a closed numbering plan some years ago
the leading digit 0 was no longer used. The idea then was that this
number block could be used for shorter numbers. 00 is used for international
prefix, 01 was then reserved for possible future use, and 02-09
was reserved for the shorter numbers. It was then decided that these
numbers should be 5 digits in length, which would give 8000 numbers.
4 digits would only give 800 numbers, which probably would not be
sufficient, and 6 digits would make the numbers too long to be attractive.
The
5-digit numbers are not preceded by any code, you only dial the
5 digits. From the leading digit 0 you see that this is a non-geographical
number.
Does
Norway have an intelligent network?
Yes.
From
Arne Litlere, Numbering Manager, Norwegian Regulatory Authority
MEETING
NOTE
Charging for
Individual Numbers
Working Group
20 January 2000
Time &
Place: 2:00 pm at Oftel
Meeting called by: Oftel
Meeting chaired by:Michael Dixon (Telecoms consultant)
Oftel representatives:
Mark Whitbread
Attendees:
Roger Gilbert (DMA)
Bill Crane (BT)
Karen Wray (CWC)
Tracy Fenton (CWC)
Alan Price (DialIt)
Sara-Jane Amey (Telewest)
Lesley Bulman (ntl:)
Steve Smith (DMA)
Isobel Brown (FUG)
Claire Milne (WG1; Antelope)
Gill Wood (PRA)
Apologies:
Robert Dirskovski (DMA)
Liz Wainman (CA)
Noel Scanlon (Consultant for TMA)
James Woodward-Nutt (CCE)
Lindsey Norman (ICSTIS)
1. Note
of the Meeting of 24 November 1999
The amended version is on the web site.
2. Progress
in other Working Groups
The group was updated about the activities of the two ongoing relevant
working groups: the Rules Governing Number Use group and the NICC
technical task group on individual number allocation (INA).
The operators plan to propose to the Operators Policy Forum that
a new industry focus group is convened to deal solely with the commercial
issues surrounding Pre-Allocation Portability, which, it is hoped,
will evolve into INA.
Rules Governing
Number Use
This group has now met five times since it was convened in September
1999, most recently just before this meeting at 10.30am on 20 January
2000. The group discussed charging at length, because it thought
that how charging is introduced and organised will considerably
affect what rights in numbers can and should be held. The main points
of that discussion have been incorporated into this note. No further
meetings of this group are expected.
NICC INA Task
Group
The second has met three times, most recently on 18 January
2000. Their work centres on listing the interfaces needed for the
data systems that will back up the allocations and charging structure
behind INA and on finding the solutions to any potential problems.
Those meetings will continue for the foreseeable future. The group
has recognised the likely need for access restriction and the use
of a ‘service key’.
3. Progress
on Action Points
L Bulman/A.Price To expand on the outline
Number Trading model to cover the issues raised at the meeting
No progress
until more detail on INA plans.
M Whitbread
To refine the number allocation model and to begin to introduce
a revenue element
In progress.
To be developed further after Spring consultation.
M Whitbread
To obtain feedback from the Norwegian and Dutch telecom industries
on their experiences with number
charging
Papers attached
to the agenda and circulated to the group. Also on the Oftel web
site.
L Norman
To obtain information on the Dutch experience of introducing short
numbers
Paper attached
to the agenda for this meeting and on the web site.
S Gillies
To prepare a written explanation why 09 might be better treated
separately from 08
Oftel is
in correspondence with the Premium Rate Association and will meet
them before the Spring consultation document is published.
4. Conclusions
Overall
Charging Structure
Network operators remain concerned that charging will bring
abuses, such as trading numbers without paying for them by reselling
them before their payment is due.
A charge for searching the database for available numbers was proposed
to try to restrict system use to essential use. A premium-rate connection
charge was proposed. It was queried whether such a proposal would
be acceptable to Oftel because it might leave the database less
than open and transparent.
An alternative suggestion of a method of preventing overload of
the system was to give users a lesser access status to reflect different
level of need for access. It was also mentioned that the US system
had been updated so that it had no difficulty coping with heavy
demand.
Users were keen to persuade the group that as few new number blocks
as possible should be allocated before charging was introduced,
because, assuming that already allocated numbers would not attract
charges, it was to operators’ advantage to obtain numbers before
charging even if they did not need them.
The network operators said they would challenge the legality of
the introduction of above-cost charges for memorable 08 and 09 numbers,
because they believed they were not scarce. Oftel pointed out that,
although numbers in general were not scarce, memorable ones could
be argued to be.
The group proposed Oftel incorporated INA charging rate information
for other European countries as an appendix to the coming consultation
document.
09 Numbers
There was concern that, if portability prevented service providers
having rights over those numbers they "loaned" to users,
this would kill part of the present premium-rate service provision
market.
The suggestion at earlier meetings that all 09 numbers might be
charged at cost whether or not they were memorable did not gain
general acceptance. Several people felt that that would be inconsistent
with the plans for 08 numbers and might therefore be discriminatory.
Others questioned the reason for charging above cost for 08 numbers
if 09 numbers were to be charged at cost, because they understood
memorable 09 numbers were in short supply.
Most of the group felt value did exist in memorable 09 numbers,
especially those for information and chatlines where callers might
well ring the number they rang last time if they could remember
it.
Worthy Causes
It was proposed that rights to cheap numbers were decided on
the nature of the telephone service to be offered on the number.
This was thought fairer than any attempt to judge the worthiness
of the organisation the number was for. For example, a national
or medical advice line might claim a greater right than a local
advice line or a donation line, because it reached more people or
was a more urgent service. The Telephone Helplines Association offered
more information about their scheme to favour the worthiest causes
with, for example, Yellow Pages directory entries. Oftel to follow
this up with the THA.
Auctions
Although users see auctions as the only way to ensure a true
value is obtained for the most memorable of numbers and thereby
prevent immediate and large trading gains, network operators fear
that auctions might seriously disadvantage small or new players.
It was suggested that small players had no right to memorable numbers,
only to numbers. Just as richer companies could buy market advantages
in other areas, why shouldn’t that be true for scarce memorable
numbers too?
DVLA model was not thought suitable for copying if auctions were
used, because car registration plates were more of interest as a
status symbol for members of the public and DVLA auctions were therefore
attended by many non-business people. Auctions for telephone numbers
would be likely to be of interest almost solely to corporate users
and would be of interest as a marketing tool, not a vanity purchase.
It was envisaged that number auctions would be better carried out
through high-tech interfaces such as the Internet to optimise speed
of turnaround, which would need to be quick so that connection times
were kept low. Oftel pointed out that if numbers were auctioned,
connection times would be much slower on those numbers. It was hoped
that auctionable numbers could be held back in some way when a block
was released, however, so that it was clear that service on those
could not be obtained quickly.
Short numbers
Fear that introducing short numbers will confuse the public.
No evidence of confusion in the Netherlands but that may be because
they have their own prefixes. Judging by the Netherlands, short
numbers will be very popular. Network Operators fear switch modifications
needed for short numbers might cause post-dial delay.
Unlike the Netherlands, it was thought allocation of short numbers
should not be conditional on the weight of traffic carried, although
operators introduced the proviso that users could be refused short
numbers if they were not going to put them into service promptly.
Reservations
The consensus was that reservation capability should be charged
for to discourage inessential and inefficient use.
5.
Next Steps
Oftel is satisfied that the group has moved several of the main
issues forward and agreement on all issues in this forum is unlikely,
hence the groups have served as much of their purpose as possible
for now and should end. Oftel intend several one-to-one meetings
in the next few months.
Meetings with individual stakeholders on specific issues, especially
on 09 numbers, numbers for worthy causes and remaining major concerns
of the network operators, will take place before and after the next
consultation document is published. One-off group meetings remain
an option for the future if needed.
The main points of the Rules of Use Manual and the Business Model
for INA and charging will be outlined in the Spring Developing
Number Administration Consultation document. This document will
include several questions on unresolved issues as well as some items
of settled policy.
List of
company abbreviations
DMA
Direct Marketing Association
CA Consumers’
Association
CWC Cable & Wireless Communications
ICSTIS Independent Committee of Supervision of Standards
of Telephone Information Services
PRA Premium Rate Association
FUG Freephone Users’ Group
TMA Telephone Managers Association
CCE Consumer Communications
for England
WG1 Rules Governing Number Use Working
Group
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