With Numbering Order Set for Vote, FCC Releases Three-Year-Old Data
As the FCC moves forward on a draft order approving trials that would allow VoIP providers direct access to numbers in a few markets, the commission released a report Monday on number utilization. However, key data in the report are almost three years old.
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The report found that as of June 30, 2010, 47.9 percent of all phone numbers were assigned to end users (http://bit.ly/10KiaUW). The overall utilization rate for ILECs was 47.1 percent, 66.8 for wireless carriers and 33.3 percent for CLECs, the report found. The fight over the draft order and NPRM on numbering largely pits VoIP providers seeking direct access to numbers against companies like Bandwidth.com and Level 3, which worry about the effect on numbering resources (CD April 8 p1). Bandwidth.com and Level 3 have been pressing for various changes tightening the draft order, expected to get some discussions on the eighth floor at the FCC closer to a vote at the April 18 meeting, agency officials said Tuesday.
"Concerns about the numbering data being somewhat stale are well placed,” said consultant Susan Gately, who advises carriers and others in the telecom arena. “Historically the FCC issued these reports pretty regularly ... twice a year with the data lagging about 8 to 9 months. Per the old schedule this report should have had data through June 2012. I've got no idea why this new issue is essentially two years out of date at the time of its release."
If the FCC were considering an order that tied more directly to number utilization rates, the staleness of the data would be a bigger concern, an FCC official said. “I do think it pushes the point ... we keep claiming we're a data-driven agency and not having good data,” the official said. “The underlying issue here is really not about number utilization. The VoIP providers have customers who are utilizing numbers, they're just doing it through CLECs right now."
A VoIP industry lawyer noted the FCC is only considering a trial and an NPRM. “The reality is, if the data is old, is it really that big a deal,” the lawyer said. The FCC isn’t “making a permanent commitment."