Telecommunication companies are waiting for the regulator, the Independent Communications Authority of SA (ICASA), to implement number relief mechanisms in some geographical areas, such as Gauteng, even though the numbering regulations have been approved.
Minister of communications Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri this week signed off the numbering plans and regulations made in terms of the current Telecommunications Act, and they were promulgated in the Government Gazette.
The regulations are in line with the International Telecommunications Union recommendations and regulate the use of first dialled digits, short codes, geographic numbering, international codes and non-geographic codes as used by the cellphone operators.
Also detailed are the use of reserved numbers as determined by ICASA, how to bring numbers into service, how licensees can apply for number blocks, changes to number allocations, the withdrawal of number allocations and the structure of numbering plan records. The full regulations can be viewed on the ICASA Web site.
Harish Kasseepursad, manager for numbering administration at ICASA, says the regulations signed have effectively been used for some time already and this was really a formality.
"We just had to go through the right channels to get the regulations signed off," he says.
Almost exhausted
Kasseepursad says ICASA took over the national numbering responsibilities from Telkom five years ago and has since issued numbers to telecommunications operators, value-added network services, voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) operators and others whose licence allowed them to have a numbering plan.
He says the regulator was examining a number relief mechanism for some geographic areas, particularly central Gauteng, where the ranges were almost exhausted.
"Within the next month or so we expect to make an announcement about that," Kasseepursad says.
A Telkom spokesperson says: "We are ready to introduce an alternative numbering range for Gauteng, possibly the 010 prefix; however, we are just waiting for ICASA to give us the go ahead."
He says the numbering regulations should not be affected by the advent of number portability, especially for the cellphone operators.
"The issue here is to develop a central reference database of numbers that will be ported. The cellphone operators have asked for an extension for implementation from June and we expect this to be running in the latter part of the year," Kasseepursad says.
Dave Gale, new business director at VOIP operator Storm, says: "I would love to know how many exchange codes still remain in each geographic region. There needs to be enough to cater for the second national operator and for other communications network service providers if they are appointed.
"If there are not enough codes, it would mean that either Telkom would have to surrender portions of their number ranges, or we would have to change to an 11-digit dial plan, which has huge implications for everyone in the country and usually takes years to implement."
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