ACMA Proposes New Numbers For Trial Services Print E-mail
Written by Adam Gosling   
Monday, 03 September 2007
The Australian Communications and Media Authority is proposing to introduce two new number ranges to be used for trials of new telecommunications services and is looking for industry feedback on the proposal.

Apparently, the current Telecommunications Numbering Plan 1997, which sets out the framework and rules for the specification of numbers for the supply of carriage services in Australia doesn't currently have room to allocate numbers for experimental services.

If the service characteristics fall outside the scope of number types set out under section 2.2 of the Numbering Plan the standard allocation procedures cannot be used hampering to process.

The proposed variation will allow numbers for trials to be allocated on a temporary basis under Chapter 6 of the Numbering Plan.

"ACMA recognises that telecommunications providers need to trial new services in order to develop new products for their customers," said Chris Chapman, ACMA Chairman. "The new trial number ranges give carriage service providers the flexibility they need to trial services, while facilitating the introduction of innovative services into the market."

Accordingly, the ACMA is seeking submissions on the proposed variation, which will introduce two new number ranges. These will be 10-digit numbers in the 1290 0 range for the supply of inbound services, and 10-digit numbers in the 0570 0 range for the supply of outbound services.

Inbound services enable a call to be made to a number but not from that same number. In practice, inbound services are set up by interface with another telephone number, for example a fixed phone or a mobile phone handset. Examples of inbound numbers include 13, 1300 and 1800 numbers.

Outbound services enable calls to be made to and received from the same telephone number.

The proposed variation specifically prohibits the use of trial service numbers for access to age-restricted content services and for the supply of age-restricted text services that are or would be classified as MA15+ or R18+ by the Classification Board.

The draft variation and accompanying discussion paper are available from ACMA's website. The closing date for submissions is 30 September 2007.

Related news items
Newer news items
Older news items
 
mobilised

Carrier News

Ructions At Engin Signal Changing Strategy
With the 30 per cent acquisition of pure play VoIP service provider, Engin, by the Seven Network, it was only a matter of time before major upheaval filtered its way to the broadband telephony provider's staff.
Older news items
 

Industry News

Vendor News

Aspect Maps Out UC Product Plans
Contact Centre software specialists, Aspect Software, has embarked on a corporate strategy to educate the market on the part the contact centre plays in an organisation's overall unified communications strategy.
Older news items
 

VoIP Solutions

Product News

WA Dept Education Goes IP With Panasonic
The West Australian Department of Education and Training has chosen Panasonic for the upgrade of all future school telephony systems to IP-capable solutions.
Older news items