Finally the missing indirect recognition from the telecommunication world towards TEL capability ?

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.pdf

Already 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