[ Johannesburg, 21 August 2008 ] - Outdated public analogue branch exchange (PABX) routing tables are foiling the interconnection of voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) and traditional phone calls, say value-added network service (VANS) providers.
This is due to the Independent Communications Authority of SA's (ICASA's) decision to allocate 087 numbers to VANS to on-sell to clients who want their VOIP networks to receive inbound calls from businesses using Telkom and Neotel landlines, they say.
ECN Telecoms operations manager Jeremy Macdonald says ICASA started allocating the 087 range to VANS to on-sell around May last year.
"The problem is that the 087 range used to be premium-rated and gained notoriety as phone sex lines in the early 1990s."
The dial-up sex and astrology services were eventually discontinued, but not before many PABXs were blocked from dialling 087 numbers to prevent bored staff running up bills.
Macdonald says the “services” are long-gone, but two legacies remain: many of the around one million PABXs still in service still can't dial to the 087 range, and people still hold the range in poor regard.
“There is a bit of a stigma attached to the numbers and the perception remains that it is still premium-rated and, therefore, a rip-off.”
Naughty Numbers
Macdonald says ICASA could have allocated numbers in the 081, 088 or 089 range, but chose not to. "That has disadvantaged us. Many corporate customers don't want 087 numbers, it is a particularly undesirable range."
Vox Telecoms CEO Doug Reed agrees. "It is a problem. The numbers don't have a nice connotation."
Macdonald is calling on businesses and PABX vendors to update their call routing tables to allow calls to 087 VOIP numbers. He also wants ICASA to join him in that call.
He says the regulator has been sent correspondence in that regard, but to no avail.
Macdonald would also like access to geographic number rights as enjoyed by Telkom and Neotel for VOIP customers.
We want to be able to issue customers 011 numbers in Johannesburg and 012 to clients in Pretoria. We see this as fair. The Electronic Communications Act does not differentiate between switched telephone network and VANS – that kind of talk is obsolete.
"One can now only talk about electronic communications service providers (ECSP) and electronic network service providers. However, ICASA persists in providing new entrants, who are in our view ECSPs, non-geographic numbers, which is very unattractive."
