Insights

Rare Chance for Resp Orgs to Reserve Numbers in the 800 NPA Code on June 20, 2016

Jun 10, 2016

Toll-Free Numbers (TFNs) in the 800 NPA Code are highly sought-after and are usually difficult for Responsible Organizations (Resp Orgs) to reserve. Earlier this year, however, a Resp Org was disconnected, freeing up approximately 96,000 TFNs in the 800 NPA Code.

Only one similar release occurred in 2008, when Somos (then SMS/800) released a batch of TFNs every 15 minutes from a pool of 23,000 newly available TFNs in the 800 NPA Code. While this helped spread out the system utilization, it did result in two Resp Orgs grabbing more than 70% of the available numbers. 

As the Toll-Free Neutral Administrator, Somos has a responsibility to ensure that TFNs are distributed on a fair, equitable, and non-discriminatory basis. That is why Somos petitioned the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to temporarily waive the “first come, first served” rule and, instead, conduct a limited release of these TFNs.

As a result of the Somos waiver that the FCC granted on Friday, June 10, 2016, we will limit each Resp Org to reserve 100 TFNs in the 800 NPA Code for a five-day period beginning on  Monday, June 20, 2016 at 11:00 AM CT and ending on  Saturday, June 25, 2016 at 11:00 AM CT

Once a Resp Org has reserved 100 TFNs in the 800 NPA Code for that day, they will not be able to reserve any more until the following day starting at 11:00 AM CT when the limit is reset to 100. This is a daily limit, and unused portions of a Resp Org’s allocations will not carry over to the next day.

No other NPA codes will be affected and the rest of the SMS/800 platform will operate as normal. Somos will post a list of the disconnected TFNs in the 800 NPA Code that will be available in the spare pool before the limited allocation period begins. Note that Somos will not update this list once the acquisition process begins.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to email us at help@somos.com or call or text the Help Desk at 844.HEY.SOMOS (844.439.7666), Option 1.