Best positive buzz ever towards all -numeric dot TEL usecases ignited by ... ITU a few days ago !!!Finally the missing indirect recognition from the telecommunication world towards TEL capability ?
A special cum laude mention indirectly awarded by ITU to :
- shortcodes ( also shortcodes directories ?)
- national phone numbers ( also national or regional phone directories ? )
- international phone numbers in ITU-T E.164 format
ITU letter to ICANN, Geneva 11 October 2013 wrote:
.../...
ITU
must express its concern about TELNIC’s recent announcement launching
an “all numeric .tel domains” service from 15 October 2013. This raises a
number of policy, legal, and practical implications on the potential
usage of all-digit strings, not only under .TEL domain, but also under
any future telephony-related new gTLDs
… /...
We are seeking
this clarification as the digit strings appear similar to telephone
numbers and could be used in a manner similar to telephone numbers,
which may confuse customers or cause undue conflicts arising from their
use.
Full text here :
http://domainincite.com/docs/TSB-Director-Letter-to-ICANN-CEO-2013-10-11.pdfAlready an output of mature convergence between Internet and Telecommunication ?
Interesting
times, although not many all-numeric DN registered today over TEL on
first day , which would certainly please ITU as of date ...
Until
next steps , for example when some Google or other OTTs put their
hands onto services fom phone number registration over dot TEL , or IMEI
over dot TEL, for them to explore further initally walled gardens ?
Telecommunication Standardization
Bureau
Geneva,
1
1
October
2013
Ref:
2013
-
10
-
387
Mr Fadi Chehadé
Pr
esident & CEO of ICANN
Email:
fadi.chehade@icann.org
cc.
:
Mr
Sherif
Guinena
ITU
-
T
SG2 Cha
irman
Email:
dr.guinena@ntra.gov.eg
Mr Khashayar Mahdavi
TELNIC CEO
Email:
kmahdavi@telnic.org
Telephone:
+41 22 730 5852
Telefax:
+41 22 730 5853
E
-
mail
:
tsbdir@itu.int
Dear Mr Chehadé,
The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) would welcome ICANN’s assistance to clarify
some issues raised by
the TELNIC announcement
1
that users can register digit strings in the
“.TEL” domain that appear to be of similar length and format as international telephone
numbers.
Since ITU first expressed concerns about the TLDs in our letter to ICANN in Nov
ember 2000, we
have recognized that both ICANN and TELNIC made some efforts to restrict all
-
digit strings as
sub
-
names under the .TEL domain, by allowing the sub
-
names only with “text
-
based” or “non
-
numeric” names, in order to avoid conflict with national
or international telephone numbering
plans. In particular, TELNIC’s application for .TEL domain of March 2004 clearly stated that “[t]he
.Tel will not [a]llow numeric
-
only domain to be registered, and therefore will not conflict with
any national or intern
ational telephone numbering plan” (
New sTLD RFP Application, .tel
-
Telnic,
Part B. Application Form
).
In light of this
, ITU
must
express its concern about TELNIC’s recent ann
ouncement launching an
“all numeric .tel domains” service from 15 October 2013
. This raises a number of
policy, legal,
and practical implications
on
the
potential usage of all
-
digit strings, not only under .TEL domain
,
but also under any future telephony
-
r
elated new gTLDs
,
because of the
possibl
e
perceived
mapping of the ITU
-
T E.164 numbering plan into the Domain Name System (DNS), without
appropriate procedures to ensure that rights of assignees of
Recommendation
ITU
-
T E.164
numbers are properly protected.
1
http://www.telnic.org/downloads/LongNumeri
csRelease.pdf
by TELwax 
It’s
been a long and winding road for many new top level domain applicants.
But most of the delays and challenges new TLD applicants have faced pale
in comparison to the very long, very expensive road that .tel registry
Telnic has traveled.
Telnames