EC084 - ETNO Expert Contribution on “Draft ECC Report 87 - The future of numbering

The European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) has carefully reviewed the Draft ECC Report 87 “The future of numbering”.
The purpose of this Report is unclear. Its scope is restricted to the “future of E.164 numbering”, but does not take much into account new services. For most of the countries the Report does not take into account the technical problems industry could face when implementing the scenarios depicted to route the calls, charge the calls and negotiate interconnection agreements.

The European Telecommunications Network Operators' Association (ETNO) has carefully reviewed the Draft ECC Report 87 “The future of numbering”.
In general it is not clear which question is supposed to be answered by this Report and what its purpose is.
The scope of the Report is restricted to the “future of E.164 numbering”. It is very “traditional voice” oriented, and does not take much into account new services.
In addition this Report holds a set of Recommendations and a future numbering plan structure. For most of the countries concerned these do not take into account the technical problems industry could face when implementing the scenarios depicted in the Report to route the calls, charge the calls and negotiate interconnection agreements. In addition problems related to accounting, security, privacy and legal interception are neglected in the Report. It has to be underlined that if the scenarios described in the Report become true, the solution of the above problems would be very costly for the entire telecommunications industry (operators, service providers, content providers) and as a final result customers will have to pay for it.