Number Portability in the GSTN: An Overview
draft-foster-e164-gstn-np-00

Abstract

This document provides an overview of E.164 telephone number portability (NP) in the Global Switched Telephone Network (GSTN). There are three types of number portability: service provider number portability (SPNP), location portability, and service portability. Service provider portability, the focus of the present draft, is a regulatory imperative in many countries seeking to liberalize local telephony service competition, by enabling end-users to retain pre- existing telephone numbers while changing service providers. Implementation of NP within national GSTN entails potentially significant changes to numbering administration, network element signaling, call routing and processing, billing, service management, and other functions. NP changes the fundamental nature of a dialed E.164 number from a hierarchical physical routing address to a virtual address, thereby requiring the transparent translation of the later to the former. In addition, there are various regulatory constraints which establish relevant parameters for NP implementation, most of which are not network technology specific. Consequently, the implementation of NP behavior consistent with applicable regulatory constraints, as well as the need for interoperation with the existing GSTN NP implementations, are relevant topics for numerous areas of IP telephony work-in-progress at IETF.

Authors

Dr. Michael Foster
John Yu

(Note: The e-mail addresses provided for the authors of this Internet-Draft may no longer be valid.)