Technology, the Internet and the Demand for NANP Numbers J.

Technology, the Internet and the Demand for NANP Numbers J. Scott Marcus Senior Advisor for Internet Technology Office of Strategic Planning and Policy Analysis, FCC The opinions expressed are my own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the FCC or any of its commissioners. December 4, 2004 North American Numbering Council (NANC) - J. Scott Marcus Slide 1

Technology, the Internet and the Demand for NANP Numbers Factors that might decrease demand for numbers Factors that might increase demand for numbers The transition to the brave new world December 4, 2004 North American Numbering Council (NANC) - J. Scott Marcus Slide 2

Factors That Might Decrease Demand Huge interest in Voice over IP (VoIP) What is a phone call? Conventional phone numbers? Use of SIP addresses? VoIP - Everything over IP Telephone - intelligent device Decreasing relevance of geography to numbers. Short messages (SMS) December 4, 2004 North American Numbering Council (NANC) - J. Scott Marcus Slide 3

Factors That Might Increase Demand A multiplicity of services. Wired, wireless, Internet, Substitution of calls, but not of services. ENUM – a mapping from telephone numbers to electronic services Associates a subscriber’s phone number with a ranked list of Internet-based services that can be used to reach him/her. ENUM requires no changes to the North American Numbering Plan, nor to international E.164 numbering. December 4, 2004 North American Numbering Council (NANC) - J. Scott Marcus Slide 4

How Does ENUM Work? The design of ENUM is based on the Internet’s Domain Name System (DNS). www.fcc.gov www.amazon.com www.harvard.edu Instead of .com or .gov, ENUM uses .e164.arpa The DNS works from right (most significant) to left (least significant), unlike phone numbers. Consequently, ENUM entries look like this: 1.1.6.0.8.1.4.2.0.2.1.e164.arpa to represent (202) 418-0611 December 4, 2004 North American Numbering Council (NANC) - J. Scott Marcus Slide 5

ENUM and Numbering ENUM uses existing NANP numbers. It does not necessarily imply any change at all to the rate of number exhaustion. The mapping from phone numbers to individuals is not one-to-one in either direction. Wireline – call a PLACE Wireless – call an INDIVIDUAL Will people simply use phone numbers that they already have? Will people demand new individual numbers? December 4, 2004 North American Numbering Council (NANC) - J. Scott Marcus Slide 6

In the Long Run Will phone numbers become less important over time? Or will they simply take on a somewhat different meaning? December 4, 2004 North American Numbering Council (NANC) - J. Scott Marcus Slide 7

The transition to the brave new world In what time frame do the factors that might decrease the emphasis on numbers operate? In what time frame do the factors that might increase the emphasis on numbers operate? What are the impacts on numbering as we migrate from the old world to the new? December 4, 2004 North American Numbering Council (NANC) - J. Scott Marcus Slide 8