Richard Shockey wrote:
I recently during a VoIP round-table raised that very questions to a rep from RegTP, the German regulator, whether in the wake of the +49.32 deliberations there are any first thoughts to get rid of area specific codes, i.e. enable geographic portability. The answer was a clear "No, nothing whatsoever".
I imagine the silence was deafening. I can just see the little DT reps desperately trying to get the subject changed as fast a possible. " isnt it lunch time yet?"
Actually not. There was no DT rep on the stage at least - and the people there had no real ears for numbering issues in general (apart from bashing the lenghy process for +49.32), but were most concerned about DT's strong (> 90%) position in the DSL market, the lack of technical alternatives to it - such as cable - and insufficient LLU: you still have to get a PSTN (no damn mercy!) line if you want to have DT-based DSL. Even via a third party reseller...
Later on, during a privat chat, I heard something like "It's still partly used for PSTN routing and also important for tariffing" - humm...
PRECISELY .. the only justification for geographic codes is the artificial barriers of "rate centers" used for Tariffs Something your friendly national incumbent monopoly carrier does not want to talk about especially in front of regulators.
It was actually a rep from the regulator pointing that out. When I mentioned that there are carriers around already offering calls to any destination within the borders of the Federal Republic for 1.x cents a minute,so tariffing might not be a viable argument in the long run any longer - then I felt that deafening silence...
And a really heretic thought: what about phone numbers becoming a commodity sometime in the future, as in: fully portable on a global scale?
I think we'll all just dial via SIP URI before we see that happen <g>
Or this way, yes... ;-) Cheers, -C.