Insights

Learn More about Somos’ Role in the Numbering Ecosystem at NARUC 2019!

Feb 08, 2019

This Monday, February 11, 2019, Somos is excited to have the opportunity to participate in the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners’ (NARUC) Winter Policy Summit! The NARUC Summit provides an excellent opportunity for state utility regulators to come together to improve the quality and effectiveness of public utility regulation by learning from each other and the industries they regulate. Somos has been invited to speak during the Committee On Telecommunications meeting and present Somos’ in our role as the Toll-Free Number Administrator, and our new role as North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA) and Pooling Administrator (PA). We will introduce the NARUC attendees to the people at Somos who will be working with them directly from the NANPA and PA.

This past October 10, 2018, The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) awarded Somos the contracts to serve as the NANPA and PA including the Routing Number Administrator (RNA). Previously held by Neustar, the transition to Somos was an intricate process that involved a high level of coordination, implementation and execution. Led by Mary Retka, Vice President of Industry Relations and Public Policy, and John Manning, Senior Director of NANPA, for Somos, the transition was successfully completed on an aggressive two-month schedule from November 1, 2018 to January 1, 2019.

At NARUC, members from the Somos Industry Relations team including: Ms. Retka; Catherine Palcic, Manager, Strategic Industry Relations and Public Policy; Mr. Manning; Beth Sprague, Director of NANPA; Florence Weber, Director of PA; and Kimberly Miller, Senior Corporate Counsel, will provide a transition overview as well as describe the responsibilities attached to Somos’ new role. These include assignment and administration of:

• Central Office (CO) codes within geographic NPAs
• CO codes from non-geographic area codes
• Carrier Identification Codes (CICs), 800-855 line numbers, Vertical Service Codes
• Thousands-blocks within pooled rate centers to authorized Local Number Portability (LNP) capable service providers on a national basis including Puerto Rico
• Non-dialable p-ANIs (pseudo-automatic identification number) out of the 211 NXX and 511 NXX to authorized wireless and VoIP service providers on a national basis including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

We look forward to discussing our current and new roles with NARUC attendees and answering any questions that States Commissioners, their staff and other Telecommunications Committee members may have. We expect that the NARUC attendees will see that we intend to work with them as the North American Numbering Plan Administrator and Pooling Administrator to provide continued success in managing the North American Numbering Plan, as we have done as the Toll-Free Number Administrator.