FCC Gets Mixed Advice on Reassigned Number Database Changes
Thee few commenters so far have differing takes on changes sought in April (see 1904260022) to rules for the reassigned number database (RND), approved by commissioners 4-0 in December. The FCC hopes to help combat unwanted and illegal robocalls to people with new numbers. Lawyers active in the proceeding said the comments don't offer the FCC much help in making a decision on the petitions for reconsideration.
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CTIA, the Competitive Carriers Association and USTelecom urged the FCC to reconsider a decision to merge under one contract and a single administrator the administration of the database “with the already consolidated” North American Numbering Plan Administrator and Pooling Administrator “functions.” The Professional Association for Customer Engagement (PACE) said in a second petition that business landlines and other toll-free numbers shouldn't be included in the database.
NCTA opposed PACE arguments. The petition “threatens to upset the careful balance struck in the Reassigned Numbers Order,” NCTA said. PACE’s assessment of the relative costs and benefits of the change “seems backwards,” NCTA said in docket 17-59: “It likely would be more costly for voice providers to separate out business numbers and tailor their reporting only to consumer numbers, and a database that lacks such information likely would be less beneficial to callers, including in the context of [Telephone Consumer Protection Act] TCPA compliance.”
Somos, the toll-free number administrator, told the FCC it got things right in its December order. “Including Toll-Free numbers in the database will ‘result in only a small, incremental burden’” on Somos: “Timely, accurate Toll-Free disconnect information is readily available and easy for Somos to relay.” The company opposed the carrier petition in a second filing. “By beginning the process of selecting an administrator who will run the RND (the RNDA) and serve as the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) and Pooling Administrator (PA), the Commission is well on the way to achieving efficient numbering administration,” Somos said: CCA, CTIA and USTelecom “would halt that progress.”
Noble Systems, a provider of contact center software, supported PACE arguments. “There are compelling reasons why business and toll free numbers should not be included in the RND,” Noble said: “The concern of calling reassigned numbers relates to calling wireless or residential wireline numbers, not business and toll free numbers. The Commission’s record and prior comments directed to unwanted robocalls is largely void of any evidence that owners of business numbers or toll free numbers have complained about receiving unwanted calls to reassigned business numbers or reassigned toll free numbers.”
NetNumber, which provides software-based signaling-control solutions, supported the arguments of the three telecom associations, saying the steps the FCC would take are “premature” and the agency should allow flexibility. “While in theory all three functions should be provided by the same vendor, there is no unique capability that the vendor of the NANPA or PA functions would have compared to a stand-alone vendor of RND services,” NetNumber commented.
CEO Rebekah Johnson of the Numeracle anti-robocall tech company meanwhile met with an aide to Commissioner Mike O’Rielly on the pending robocall declaratory ruling and Further NPRM (see 1905150041). “The draft order plays fast and loose with the terms ‘illegal call’ and ‘unwanted call,’” the company said: “The Commission has never defined these terms. The same sales call that is illegal if the customer has not consented to receive it is perfectly legal with customer consent. Every customer will have their own definition of ‘unwanted call.’”
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter, meanwhile, met with Chairman Ajit Pai to discuss the FCC’s fight against robocalls, as Pai made a visit to the state. “The two scheduled the meeting as part of the chairman’s first trip to Oklahoma as head of the FCC to discuss consumer protection issues, namely robocalls, and the state and federal government’s response in combating the burdensome scams associated with them,” said a news release.