NANC Adopts Draft Report for FCC on Consolidating 2 Numbering Administrator Contracts

NANC members without dissent adopted a draft technical requirements document for the FCC to consolidate the NANPA and PA contracts. As requested by the commission, the draft contains a unified set of functional and system interface requirements for combining the entities, said Idaho Public Utilities Commissioner Paul Kjellander, who chairs NANC's numbering administration oversight working group. The FCC expects consolidation will create efficiencies and could spur competitive bidding for the contract, said an order July 9 that directed NANC to submit the draft to the agency by Sept. 24. The FCC noted that Neustar was the only bidder for the contracts last time and that some commenters believe their relatively small size discouraged interest.

Telnyx CEO David Casem said the draft lacks an application programming interface for service providers. He asked the NANC to incorporate an API requirement. Kjellander and others seemed amenable to the request and asked for specific suggestions by next week. Kjellander said the current Neustar contracts expire Sept. 30 and he anticipates the FCC will seek a bridge contract while it considers next steps. The commission will review the draft and any associated comments "before making a final decision on whether to issue a Request for Proposal to solicit bids for the new NANPA/PA contract," said the July order. Neustar told us it has filed comments supportive of consolidating the contracts. Iconectiv, which won the LNPA contract from Neustar, didn't comment.

Industry-led efforts to stand up two entities to oversee call authentication are on track, said ATIS General Counsel Tom Goode, updating implementation of "Shaken/Stir" (Secure Handling of Asserted information using toKENs/Secure Telephony Identity Revisited) protocols for countering call spoofing and unwanted robocalling (see 1805140028). He said a Secure Telephone Identity-Governance Authority (here) held an Aug. 29 board meeting and is expected to meet a May target for selecting an STI-Policy Administrator. SIP Forum Chairman Richard Shockey said mobile providers are generally expected to deploy Shaken/Stir call authentication first, "probably" followed by cable and then "advanced" landline telcos. Major consumer impact isn't likely before Q4 2019, he said.

The LNPA transition to iconectiv has been "pretty much a seamless event," said Tim Kagele, co-chair of North American Portability Management and a Comcast executive director. "There have been very, very minimal customer issues." He said iconectiv's LNP systems have successfully handled 55 million "unique" phone number porting and pooling requests since May 25.

NANC members are preparing to further evaluate nationwide number portability issues, said Courtney Neville, NNP working group co-chair and Competitive Carrier Association associate general counsel. She said a new technical subcommittee aims to have an interim report ready for NANC's December meeting and a final report ready for the first 2019 meeting, as requested by the FCC. Shockey, the other co-chair, said the group plans to take a new look at a proposal for "partial" NNP implementation pushed by Henning Schulzrinne, a Columbia University professor. "I think we made a mistake" in believing NNP was "all-or-nothing" (see 1806080025), Shockey said. Schulzrinne told us some legacy providers struggle with NNP. The FCC is reviewing nominations for the subcommittee and a separate "interoperable video calling" working group, and expects to announce members soon, said Marilyn Jones, the designated federal officer (DFO) for NANC.

An FCC report is due Aug. 13 under the Nationwide Suicide Hotline Improvement Act, said Michelle Sclater, alternate DFO. She said the act requires the commission and others to study and report on the feasibility of designating a three-digit dialing code for a national suicide prevention and mental health crisis hotline system, with current "N11" numbers considered. The FCC is to consult with NANC, the Department of Health and Human Services' Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Department of Veterans Affairs, she said. The HHS agency and the VA are to report to the FCC by Feb. 11, and the commission will be providing NANC with further direction, she said.

Every day, 123 people commit suicide and about 20 percent of those are veterans, said Air Force veteran Joe Hurlbert, a senior fellow at the VA's Office of Information and Technology. He said having an easy three-digit hotline will save lives and believes "611" is the best candidate.