The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications consults with the Information and Communication Council on "the ideal way of the telecommunications number system" to consider directly assigning voice mobile phone numbers to MVNOs: Report by December

On May 19, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Ryota Takeda consulted with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications' Information and Communication Council on "the ideal telecommunications number system for the creation of diverse services in the digital society." In response to this, the "Telecommunications Number Policy Committee" under the telecommunications business policy subcommittee of the council began to consider the content of the consultation from May 26th. A formal report to the Minister is scheduled for December 2021.

[Correction: 21:40] At the time of the first appearance, the explanation about the data transmission mobile phone number was partially incorrect.I apologize for the correction.

In response to this consultation, it is planned to consider two major points: "designation of voice transmission mobile phone number (* 1)" and "call forwarding service using fixed line number (* 2)". ..

(* 1) Phone numbers assigned to mobile phones that can make voice calls (phone numbers starting with "090", "080", "070") (* 2) 2- to 5-digit numbers including "0" (partial)

Voice transmission mobile phone numbers (hereinafter referred to as "voice mobile numbers") are assigned by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications to mobile network operators (MNOs) (* 3) licensed as mobile phone base stations. As of the end of March 2020, the designation rate was 91.2% (about 245.6 million numbers), of which 176.54 million numbers were used.

(* 3) NTT DoCoMo, KDDI, Okinawa Cellular Telephone, Softbank, Rakuten Mobile

On the other hand, under the current system, it is not possible to directly assign a voice mobile number to an MVNO that does not have a base station license. Therefore, in order for the MVNO to provide a voice call service using a voice mobile number, it is necessary to receive a wholesale service from the MNO.

When MVNOs provide their own voice call services using voice mobile numbers, they are currently subject to the restrictions of MNOs that receive wholesale services. Therefore, some MVNOs have indicated a policy to provide more free voice call services by installing IMS (IP phone equipment) in-house in the future, and as part of realizing this, voice mobile numbers will also be used for MVNOs. We request that it be assigned directly.

(* 4) Phone number assigned to mobile phones that can only use packet communication (11 digits starting with "020" or 14 digits starting with "0200").Mobile phone voice calls and SMS cannot be used on the line assigned this phone number.

Therefore, in this study, the pros and cons of directly assigning the voice mobile number to the MVNO and the requirements for directly assigning it will be examined.

In addition to the allocation of base station licenses, the following conditions are imposed on the allocation of voice mobile numbers.

(* 5) Either a method of directly connecting to the first-class designated telecommunications equipment (or via a single other operator) or a method of directly connecting to all the connection target operators by IP (ENUM method).

Both requirements are costly to meet. In the process of discussion, it is necessary to consider the minimum requirements (and costs to be borne) that the MVNO should meet.

In Europe, many countries have introduced a system to directly assign telephone numbers to MVNOs that meet certain requirements.

In this discussion, it is expected that the pros and cons of directly assigning data transmission mobile phone numbers to MVNOs and the expansion of mobile phone numbers (such as the use of numbers starting with "060" as voice transmission mobile phone numbers) will be considered.

Call forwarding services are broadly divided into "call forwarding" and "call forwarding". Call forwarding is to transfer a call to one phone number to another phone number, and it is also provided on mobile phones under the name "Call Forwarding". On the other hand, in outgoing call transfer, when a call is made to the transfer (exchange) device, the transfer (exchange) device makes a call using another telephone number, and the service is mainly provided for corporations.

On landlines, the area code (and city code) can be used to identify the location of the caller to some extent. Taking advantage of this characteristic, in the opinion polls of newspapers and TV, the content of the question may be changed according to the area / city code of the destination. Applying this to a call forwarding service, you can make a call without knowing your "real" location.

Therefore, in April 2018, Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Seiko Noda consulted with the Information and Communication Council to consider a "new way" of telephone forwarding services using fixed telephone numbers. As a result, in September of the same year, a report was issued that included stricter identity verification of the transfer service contractor (final user) and making it impossible to make emergency calls using outgoing transfer (* 6). Based on this, the "Telecommunications Numbering Plan" (telephone number allocation rule) was revised.

(* 6) Except when there is a way to correctly notify the emergency service of the caller's location.

This report included confirming (follow-up) the implementation status even after the report and conducting necessary examinations. In this study, the following checks will be made.

In the future, the Telecommunications Number Policy Committee plans to proceed with discussions on the following schedule.

Copyright © ITmedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved.