Telephone numbering plan and procedures

The Telecommunications and Radiocommunications Regulator (TRR) issued an updated Numbering Plan and Procedures (NNP) on June 18.
The Telecommunications and Radiocommunications Regulator (TRR) is responsible under section 7(2)(d) of the Telecommunications and Radiocommunications Regulations Act–No. 30 of 2009 to “allocate telephone number blocks and other telecommunication systems numbers as administered by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to service providers”.
ThisNational Numbering Plan and Procedures addresses numbering for voice and related telecommunications services in Vanuatu in accordance with these responsibilities.

Marianne Berukilukilu, Telecom Engineer and officer responsible said “The NNP has been produced to document a series of practices and procedures developed over the last few years to assist operators such as TVL and Digicel, in allocating and assigning numbers.”

The plan should be adequate for effective competition and future demands and should provide blocks of numbers for the following applications:
• Fixed telephony
• Mobile telephony
• Internet-based telecommunications services
• Short codesincluding Emergency services and directory services
• Value-added information services, countrywide services, and commonly recognized national services
• Define numbering blocks reserved for future allocation and applications.
The Table indicates the type of service assigned to the first digit of the telephone number.

Dalsie Baniala said, “Consumers should find the numbering plan easy to understand and service providers should find it easy to implement. Changes in the plan have and will in future be kept to a minimum because changes can affect consumers and service providersdriving up costs for consumers such as costs associated to cover changes in stationery, signage and telephone equipment.”
Alan Horne, the Telecommunications Regulator said, “TRR recognizes the need to monitor the evolution of markets and telecommunications technology to introduce changes in the design of the NNP and the allocation rules of the numbering resources of Vanuatu. TRR will conduct regular reviews of this NNP, typically at five year intervals. However there are currently considerations being given to convergence of fixed and mobile services which might require an earlier review and revision to this issue. If required this would be done after due consultation.”