The 10th WG NaN Meeting
Meeting place: / Sophia Antipolis, FranceMeeting dates: / 22-23 April 2015
Ad hoc 21 April 2015
Subject: / Minutes of the 10th WG NaN Meeting
Source: / WG NaN Secretary (Hege Johnson)
Source email: /
Date of the document: / 23 April 2015
- Introductions
The 10th meeting of the Working Group Numbering and Networks (WG NaN) was held in Sophia Antipolis, France, at the kind invitation of the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI). The meeting was attended by 40 delegates representing 27 administrations, ETSI and the European Communications Office (ECO).
WG NaN Chairman Johannes Vallesverd (Norway) welcomed all the participants to Sophia Antipolis, and gave the floor to Ms. Chantal Bonardi, Technical Officer of ETSI Technical Committees including TC NTECH, who welcomed WG NaN to the ETSI premises. She stated that it was a good idea to arrange the WG NaN meeting in Sophia Antipolis in order to strengthen the relationship between the organisations. She wished the participants a fruitful meeting.
WG NaN Chairman gave a small presentation of the organisation of WG NaN and the four Project Teams and their Chairmen and Vice Chairmen. Mr. Vallesverd expressed that he hopes arranging this WG NaN meeting in Sophia Antipolis is the start of a better and stronger relationship with ETSI, and he is very happy to be at the ETSI premises. WG NaN encourage our members to participate in ETSI meetings.
There was a tour-de-table to introduce the meeting participants. The list of participants can be found in document INFO-4.
- Adoption of Agenda
The meeting adopted the agenda (NaN(2015-04)001) with a few minor amendments.
The list of documents for the meeting can be found in NaN(2015-4)004.
- Minutes of last meeting
The minutes of WG NaN meeting in Oslo was adopted by email procedure. The meeting endorsed the minutes (NaN(2015-04)002).
- Organization of WG NaN
- ECC plenary
Since the last WG NaN meeting there has been two ECC Plenary meetings. WG NaN Vice Chairman Liz Greenberg (United Kingdom) attended the meeting arranged in Montreux, Switzerland, on 25-28 November 2014 and WG NaN Vice Chairman Florin Dragomir (Romania) attended the meeting in Budapest, Hungary, on 3-6 March 2015.
Ms. Greenberg gave an update from the ECC Plenary meeting in Montreux, Switzerland, in November 2014. Ms. Greenberg informed the ECC Plenary of the latest approved deliverables and ongoing work of WG NaN and she promoted the upcoming workshop on extra-territorial use in Brussels in January 2015. There was extensive discussion on the issue of transparency for WG NaN.
Mr. Dragomir gave an update from the Budapest ECC Plenary meeting, where he informed ECC Plenary on WG NaN deliverables and work items in its Project Teams. There was a discussion on the degree of openness of the documents in WG NaN, where the ECC Plenary urged WG NaN to be more open. WG NaN needs to decide what to do further on this issue, which is dealt with under point 4.5.
4.2 Project Team Vice Chairmen Vacancies
At present there are vacancies for two Vice Chairman: for PT FNI and PT ES. WG NaN Chairman will announce calls for applications after the meeting, and he encouraged the participants to apply for the positions.
There was a suggestion to approve appointments of new Vice Chairmen of the PTs by email, and there were no objections to this suggestion.
4.3 List of NaN related deliverables
Freddie McBride (ECO) went through the list of WG NaN related deliverables, which are listed in document NaN(2015-04)003. This is a standing agenda item for WG NaN meetings and it lists of all the deliverables WG NaN has delivered in the past: Decisions, Recommendations and Reports.
4.4 Review of ECC Decisions and Recommendations
The document NaN(2015-4)005 lists and reviews the ECC Decisions and Recommendations that WG NaN has responsibility for. Decisions and Recommendations older than 5 years are to be reviewed periodically.
WG NaN Chairman went through the list of deliverables up for review in 2015:
116 SMS-HESC
The meeting agreed that ECC Decision “Reserving the National Short Message Service (SMS) Numbering Range Beginning with ‘116’ for Harmonised SMS Numbers for Harmonised Services of Social Value” ECC/DEC/(09)06 is still relevant, and the next review will be in 2020.
116 HESC
The meeting agreed that ECC Decision “Reserving the National Numbering Range beginning with '116' for Harmonised Numbers for Harmonised Services of Social6 Value” ECC/DEC/(07)03 is still relevant, and the next review will be in 2020.
Numbering for nomadic VoIP services
ECC Recommendation “Numbering for Nomadic VoIP Services”: the Recommendation ECC/REC(12)04
is to be reviewed in 2017 (or sooner). WG NaN agreed that the Recommendation is to be discussed at the next meetings of all Project Teams and report back to the next WG NaN meeting with proposals.
Principles related to Numbering plans for SMS Short Codes
The meeting agreed that ECC Recommendation “Principles related to Numbering plans for SMS Short Codes” ECC/REC/(06)03 is still relevant, and the next review will be in 2020.
Services using HESC
The meeting agreed that ECC Recommendation “Services using Harmonised European Short Codes in the National Numbering Range beginning with ‘116’” ECC/REC/(08)03 is still relevant, and the next review will be in 2020.
E.164 misuse
The meeting agreed that ECC Recommendation “Customer Protection in case of Misuse or Unauthorized Use of International E.164 Numbering” ECC/REC/(05)09 is still relevant, and the next review will be in 2020.
Data-only terminals
The meeting agreed to review ECC Recommendation “Data-only terminals that do not use E.164 numbers for their services” ECC/REC/(04)04 in PT TRIS, that will report back to the next WG NaN meeting.
Number range for services on emerging mobile systems
The meeting agreed to review ECC Recommendation “The choice of number range for services on emerging mobile systems” ECC/REC/(04)02 in PT NP, that will report back to the next WG NaN meeting.
TETRA ITSI numbering resource
The meeting agreed that ECTRA Recommendation “TETRA ITSI numbering resource and its relationship to E.212 IMSI numbering resource” ECTRA/REC(01)04 is still relevant, and the next review will be in 2020.
Alphanumeric dialling
The meeting agreed to review ECTRA Recommendation “Alphanumeric dialling in Europe” ECTRA/REC(98)02 in PT FNI and report back to the next WG NaN meeting. ETSI will give input to PT FNI Chairman.
Numbering Conventions
The meeting agreed to review ECTRA Recommendation “Harmonised National Numbering Conventions regarding ITU-T Recommendation E.164 numbers” ECTRA/REC(98)03 in PT FNI, that will report back to the next WG NaN meeting.
Directory services
Many counties follow ECTRA Recommendation “Numbering Access to Voice Directory Enquiry Services” ECTRA/REC(97)01 and it is still relevant. The meeting agreed to review the Recommendation in PT FNI, that will come back to the next WG NaN meeting with a proposal. The Netherlands will make a contribution on this issue.
4.5 Increasing transparency in the work of WG NaN – Proposal from the Chairman
WG NaN Chairman introduced a document (NaN(2015-04)012) regarding the transparency and openness of WG NaN documents. WG NaN is currently in line with the ECC Working Methods, but the ECC Plenary and external stakeholders have raised the question of accessibility of WG NaN documents.
The Chairman informed the meeting of the background of the discussions both in WG NaN and ECC Plenary, and suggested to amend our practice. There are benefits of increased transparency, which includes greater insight into the activities of the working group by external stakeholders etc. However, there have been concerns of WG NaN members which need to be considered. WG NaN Chairman proposed a way forward that attempts to satisfy both sides.
There was a discussion on the issue, and the meeting agreed to the proposal with some changes (NaN(2015-04)012_rev1). The meeting agreed that the document folder itself will be public, so that the document register will be visible, but individual documents can be protected. Logistical info on venue should not be publically available. List of participants is to be kept confidential, which is in line with the rest of ECC, as the lists contain contact information of the participants. Results of questionnaires are to be restricted as default, including the aggregated version of the results. The possibility of making the results of the questionnaire, the presentation made to WG NaN and/or a short summary of the results publically available should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. Approved minutes of meetings will be public. Documents in the restricted folder will only be available to group members, also when linked to in the minutes.
WG NaN Chairman expressed that this is a good step forward and could create further interest in our work.
This position on visibility of WG NaN documents is to be reviewed at the next WG NaN meeting.
4.6 Audit of WG NaN and PT membership
A new email reflector tool was implemented last year. When migrating to the new system, the ECO cleaned up the distribution list for WG NaN and PTs, which is contained in INFO-2. The list will be input to every WG NaN meeting. ECO will also investigate the possibility of forcing account password resets on a periodically basis, in order to keep the distribution list up-to-date. A summary of the work can be found in document NaN(2015-04)007.
4.7 Review of ECC Strategic Plan for the period 2015-2020 - approved
The ECC Strategic Plan for the period 2015-2020 was discussed and adopted at the ECC Plenary meeting in November 2014. WG NaN sent a contribution to the meeting on this issue, and most of the points WG NaN put forward were taken on board in the ECC Strategic Plan.
4.8 Other issues:
WG NaN Contribution Template
WG NaN has established a template form for contributions (NaN(2015-04)006). This is a good tool that can be used by WG NaN members for contributions to future meetings. During discussions on the template it was decided to include a field to indicate if the contribution is public or restricted to WG NaN members only. The ECO will place the updated template on the WG NaN home page for easy access.
ECC Locked Templates
Locked ECC Templates can be found on the ECC website templates page. These templates should be used for WG NaN deliverables for easier management of format. Instructions on how to use the locked ECC Templates to be found in document NaN(2015-04)021.
Use of Questionnaire Tool – Mandatory and optional responses
There have been some reactions to the volume of questionnaires, both from WG NaN, PTs and national authorities. When planning a questionnaire it is important to check the database for former questionnaires on the same issue. The meeting also encouraged members to send the draft questionnaires to the ECO and the relevant PT to go through the draft for improvements. The importance of an informative introduction and easy-to-understand questions was emphasised. It makes the questionnaire easier to respond to and the initiator will probably get more responses and more valuable information. The participants were encouraged to prioritise the questionnaires from WG NaN.
- Reports/relation with other bodies
A vision for WG NaN is to be more visible in the European arena and outreach to other bodies to explore cooperation, among them BEREC, EENA, FCC, ETSI and ITU. This is important in order to exchange views and information, to be more relevant and to promote the good work of WG NaN.
5.1 ETSI
Chantal Bonardi, NTECH Technical Officer, gave a presentation on ETSI (NaN(2015-04)048), which is a not-for-profit organisation with 802 members and more than 100 partnerships. The organisation produces standards which are globally applicable, collaborates with numerous global and regional standards-making organizations and industry groupings, contributing technical standards to support European regulation, defines radio frequency requirements for technologies it standardises, in addition to providing services like specification and testing methodologies, interoperability testing and hosts forums and workshops.
Technical Committee Network Technology (TC NTECH) is responsible for the standardisation of detailed architectures and protocol specifications for use in networks for service interconnection and network interconnection and for future networks technologies. TC NTECH has 4 plenary meetings per year, where the main participants are administrations, network operators and research bodies/universities.
Karsten Fleischhauer (Deutsche Telecom AG) participated remotely and presented the work of NTECH Numbering, Naming, Addressing and Routing (NNAR), which is not a formal working group. Recent work on DNS Protocol usage (TR 184 012) that will be published soon and ENUM/ENUM-like options for Number Portability and actual use cases (TR 103 282) was published in July 2014.
Ms. Bonardi also gave some information on the EC Mandate M493 in support of caller location information for Emergency Calls originating on IP-based networks. The mandate covers emergency caller location determination and transport for VoIP needs. ETSI Project End-to-End Network Architectures (EP E2NA) has lead the work on defining M493 functional architecture, which was published in February 2015 (ES 203 178). NTECH is working on developing protocols based on the M493 functional architecture.
Drafts are available to ETSI members only. All ETSI published deliverables are available free of charge at: Workshops are publically available, and information on future ETSI workshops can be found on the ETSI website.
Ms. Bonardi expressed appreciation that NTECH members were invited to this WG NaN meeting. WG NaN Chairman thanked Ms. Bonardi for the presentation and information. The presentation gives a good insight and WG NaN encourages members to participate in NTECH. Mr. Vallesverd stated that it is a good starting point for better cooperation between CEPT and ETSI. Freddie McBride (ECO) pointed out that we have a standing agenda point to have a report from the NTECH meetings.
There used to be an ETSI Liaison Officer to WG NaN, and the question of appointing a new ETSI Liaison Officer was raised. Ms. Bonardi will follow up this issue at the next NTECH meeting on 16-18 June 2015.
5.2 ITU-T SG2
Freddie McBride (ECO) gave a report (NaN(2015-04)008) from the last meeting of International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector Study Group 2 (ITU-T SG2) that took place in Geneva on 23-27 March 2015. Issues especially relevant for WG NaN were:
Proposed amendments to E.212
3 contribution documents to WG NaN’s proposal to amend E.212 were discussed. There will be a face-to-face meeting in Geneva on 6-9 October 2015. to address E.212 The meeting agreed that WG NaN should send a contribution. This will be on the agenda for the next two meetings of PT FNI in order to draft a proposal to be sent to WG NaN for inputs and to be agreed on by email. WG NaN Chairman encouraged WG NaN members to participate in the work in SG2 on MNCs and actively promote CEPT contributions.
Charging for International Numbering Resources (INR)
There is a proposal from ITU to impose additional charges for INRs where some of them are assigned by the national administrations. There is substantial resistance to the proposal, which will be discussed at the ITU Council in May. Com-ITU is considering making a common position paper for the member countries. The discussions in SG2 were quite heated. It was decided to establish a correspondence group to review the Recommendations under SG2 mandate that look at management requirements for both TSB and member states relative to INRs and see whether improvements can be made.
Promoting the use of MCC 901 and number ranges +882 and +883
Vodafone gave a presentation at the SG2 meeting on their implementation on MNC under shared MCC 901 and associated country-agnostic numbers. Vodafone asked SG2 to assist in promoting the use of global resources. A note for the operation bulletin was drafted and a correspondence group will be organized to consider developing a supplement to further improve the visibility of these resources and to encourage implementation. WG NaN could have a role in this work.
Next meetings of ITU-T SG2
Ad-hoc meeting on reviewing E.212, 6-9 October 2015, Geneva, Switzerland
SG2 meeting, 20-29 January 2016, Geneva, Switzerland
5.3 BEREC
Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC) is working on items and has fields of interest touching that of WG NaN. WG NaN sent submission to the public consultations held by BEREC on its Strategy and 2015 Work Programme shortly after the last WG NaN meeting in Oslo. There are several WG NaN members active in various BEREC working groups.
WG NaN Chairman mentioned the suggestion of having a joint meeting with BEREC on NP for Small Medium Enterprises in June. WG NaN was supportive of the idea.
WG NaN Chairman put forward the idea of a framework for the relationship and cooperation with BEREC, possibly as a MoU. BEREC has MoUs with several organisations, and it could be beneficial for WG NaN to have such a framework document. The meeting supported this idea.
5.4 EENA
The European Emergency Number Association (EENA) Conference 2015 takes place 22-24 April in Bucharest. WG NaN Chairman will participate in a panel discussion at the conference. EENA has also approached WG NaN about the possibility of hosting a database to support transnational emergency calls. PT ES is now investigating the feasibility of this. The EENA letter can be found in NaN(2015-04)038.
5.5 European Commission, DG CNECT
ECC have regular meetings with the European Commission. The agenda of these meetings is mainly spectrum related, and has little focus on numbering and networks. Last year WG NaN Chairman participated in the meeting, and this year WG NaN had a separate meeting with DG CNECT on 16 April 2015. There were 5 representatives from the Commission, led by Vesa Terava. WG NaN was represented by WG NaN Chairman, two WG NaN Vice Chairmen, Chairmen of all PTs, WG NaN Secretary and ECO.
The issues informally discussed included competition, scarcity issues, extra-territorial use, TSM, a potential new European numbering range and emergency services. The Commission and WG NaN have the same goal and common interest on several issues, e.g. preventing lock-in situations. Our workshop on extra-territorial use of numbers was discussed and Mr. Dragomir gave an update on our work in the field of emergency services. The Commission is looking to start work on reviewing the whole framework and was interested in our views on some issues.