ANACOM approved on 26 April 2023 the Regulation on the designation of the ‘49’ range of the National Numbering Plan (NNP) for the provision of the transmission service used for the provision of machine-to-machine (M2M) services and the mobile Internet access service, this range being used also in the context of eCall systems.
Given that several studies point to a significant increase in M2M communications and the underlying need to use NNP numbers to uniquely identify connected devices, ANACOM believes that, for the sake of prudence, it should provide for a more demanding scenario and thus ensure adequate availability of numbers to meet future needs.
Accordingly, the purpose of the Regulation now adopted is to designate a specific range of non-geographic numbers within the E.164 plan https://www.itu.int/rec/T-REC-E.164/en of the NNP for this purpose - the ‘49’ range - which is 12 digits long and has a total availability of 10 billion numbers. The designation of this specific range, with the capacity to accommodate the numbering demand expected for the services in question, also ensures greater capacity and availability for companies to attract more and different types of customers involved in the various business models of M2M services.
With regard to the scope of use of this range, the inclusion of the mobile Internet access service was also considered, taking into account that this is a service with a high potential for use, given the growing importance of this service, in particular in the context of the socio-economic changes resulting from the recent pandemic, which contributes to the risk of exhaustion of the current NNP mobile numbering ranges.
The adoption of this Regulation implies the amendment of Regulation No 58/2005https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=975391, of 18 August (the Portability Regulation), and Regulation No 1028/2021https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1718241, of 29 December(Sub-assignment Regulation), to the strict extent necessary to incorporate the new numbering range into their respective scopes.
Given that ANACOM, in accordance with article 55 of the Electronic Communications Lawhttps://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1737530, must ensure the availability of a non-geographic numbering range for the provision of electronic communications services, other than interpersonal communications services, at least within the territory of the European Union, it is considered appropriate, in view of the characteristics of the services in question, to provide for the extraterritorial use of numbers in the ‘49’ range for their provision in other countries.
Finally, ANACOM is aware that companies need some time to implement this new numbering range, to make the necessary network and system configurations, to conclude the relevant national and international interconnection or roaming agreements, and to adapt contracts or commercial offers for the provision of the services concerned. As such, it is considered that companies currently providing these services should be allowed a transitional period in which to do so. At the end of this period, such companies will only be able to assign numbers from the new numbering range for the provision of the services for which it is now designated, without this entailing migration of numbers to the new numbering range.
Consult:
- Approval of the Regulation on the designation of the ''49'' range of the National Numbering Plan https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1744774
- Consultation on the draft regulation on the designation of the "49" range of the National Numbering Plan https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1737164
See also:
- Regulamento n.º 532/2023, publicado a 16 de maio https://www.anacom.pt/render.jsp?contentId=1744070
