Somos Request for Text Messaging Clarity Gets Mixed Response
CTIA cautioned the FCC against issuing a ruling addressing Somos’ concerns about rules for text messages to toll-free numbers. In November, the Wireline Bureau sought comment on a Somos petition, and initial comments were due Monday. Others filed in support of Somos. The numbering administrator asked the FCC to rule that a messaging provider “may not text-enable a Toll-Free number without seeking authorization from the Responsible Organization with assignment and routing authority for that Toll-Free number,” the bureau said. Somos also asked the FCC to clarify that any messaging provider that text-enables a toll-free number properly register that number with Somos’ Text and Smart Services Registry.
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“These new requirements would go well beyond merely ‘terminating a controversy or removing uncertainty,’” CTIA commented in docket 95-155. “They cannot be imposed in a declaratory ruling. Moreover, Somos’s Petition raises significant jurisdictional and policy questions. The Commission cannot impose [Communications Act] Title II telecommunications service regulations on an information service such as messaging.” CTIA also reminded the FCC it's leading a “consensus-building effort among messaging ecosystem stakeholders on the issues in the Petition,” obviating the need for commission action.
Zipwhip agreed with CTIA. “Somos does not in fact seek clarification of existing law,” Zipwhip said. “Somos seeks to change the existing law and establish two wholly new obligations.” Zipwhip provides the system major carriers use for accepting texts to toll-free numbers and has often been at odds with Somos (see 1605050020).
The Association of Toll Free Professionals (ATFP) supported the Somos petition, saying no one would be disadvantaged if the FCC acted. “This is about maintaining the integrity of the toll-free numbers and the trust built up over decades of use,” ATFP commented.
Aerialink, CallFire and Twilio, which provide text-enabled 8XX services, also filed in support of Somos. “The obviousness of the relief request by Somos is so straightforward that it is surprising that Somos even needed to file its petition,” the companies commented. “Existing numbering conventions, including use of the Commission’s RespOrg system, have supported consumers and competition fairly for many years for toll-free, ‘8XX’ services. Applying those same conventions to 8XX-based text messaging not only makes sense from a policy perspective, but is compelled by the Communications Act and the Commission’s existing regulations.”
CenturyLink agreed the FCC should say a provider may not text-enable a toll-free number without seeking authorization from the organization with assignment and routing authority for that toll-free number, but not with the rest of the petition. “The Commission should declare that only the end user assigned the toll-free number should be authorized to agree to its being text-enabled,” CenturyLink said. “That seems self evident. But the matter of ‘authorization’ and ‘subscribership’ can get tricky, as CenturyLink can attest from its own experience.”