Enum - Preliminary report - PTS-ER-2004:11
18/02/2004
The Government has assigned the administrative responsibility for ENUM to the National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS), including the implementation of a national trial. The final report on the assignment must be submitted to the Government no later than 30 June 2004, when PTS shall submit proposals and any recommendations concerning, among other things, financial and administrative routines and rules necessary for the commercial operation of ENUM, financing in the event of permanent introduction of ENUM and the effect of ENUM. A preliminary report must be submitted on 31 January 2004, which constitutes the above mentioned reporting.
ENUM is a protocol and a database, produced by IETF, which translates telephone numbers to Internet domain names. This function facilitates convergence between circuit-switched and packet-switched electronic communications networks. ENUM facilitates traffic on IP-based communications networks where an ordinary telephone number is used for setting-up the communication primarily for “IP telephony services”.
The interest in ENUM varies throughout the global communications market. Trials or preparations in anticipation of permanent introduction are being made in some countries, such as for example the USA, Japan, Austria and Great Britain. The commercial interest exists, but is not clear for all actors. The activity for ENUM is flagging in Sweden on the part of commercially active operators in the market for electronic communications. One explanation may be that ENUM may be viewed as a threat by some, as traffic where the addressing methods that use ENUM can be led away from the more traditional communications networks (the telephone network) and instead terminate on the Internet or other IP-based communications networks, where other principles for remuneration for interconnection prevail.
ENUM has attracted attention in three consultancy studies recently reported to the European Commission. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) is studying the area to identify favourable solutions for permanent introduction, including the issue of a second-level domain for ENUM, which has been given priority by some countries. Within governing organisations for the sphere of the Internet, such as IAB, and to some extent IETF, it is considered that the existing second-level domains in the .arpa-tree for ENUM have already been decided.
This preliminary report explains the development in Sweden, what is planned until the final report in June 2004, and provides an international insight into certain countries and international organisations that have ENUM on the agenda. NICSE will lead a working group, where the market actors are given an opportunity to work out their view on what solutions should be used for ENUM in practice in the event of permanent commercial operation. This will be presented in a specification, which will among other things constitute an information base for the final report by PTS. A successful result for the NIC-SE working group requires the involvement and the investment of man-hours by the actors in the Swedish telecom and Internet market.
Finally, PTS will report its views on the delegation of the country code domain .6.4.e164.arpa after the conclusion of the Government assignment until the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) has decided on an appropriate legal regulatory framework and this has subsequently entered into force.