This paper examines the different attributes of telecommunications numbers and how the information they convey is currently used by communications users, service providers and other organisations.

In the past, one of the most important attributes of numbers has been the location of a customer who is using the number. Some uses of this location information have been important to the price transparency of calls, and some have been critical to public safety, such as the knowledge of the location of a person making an emergency call.

The paper then goes on to map a number of pressures affecting the use of such information, including:

• the importance of mobile phones and the corresponding decline in the use of landline phones, with the consequence that the location of a caller is more often dynamic than fixed
• the growth of VoIP services, which are not inherently constrained to be used at a fixed location, with a potentially similar consequence to that of the use of mobile phones
• the widespread use of alternative communications services that do not use numbers at all, including chat and social networking services.

The last part of the paper examines some alternative models for obtaining location and other information about a user of a communication service. The ACMA is not looking to make immediate changes, but is interested in identifying the transition paths needed in the medium term as changes may be required in the future.

Purpose of this paper

The ACMA is seeking feedback from the public on this paper to allow it to assess the degree and speed of change that is needed to support changing industry and user requirements and expectations of telecommunications numbering.