280 – Investigation into possible misuse of a Telephone
Number.
Complainant: Data Protection Commissioner’s office (“DPC”)
Respondent: End User
Case opened: 5 July 2010
Issue: Suspension/withdrawal of a Telephone Number.
Legal Basis :
This investigation was conducted by the Commission for Communications Regulation
(“ComReg”) in accordance with its functions set out in Section 10 of the
Communications Regulation Acts 2002-2010.1
Convention 11.2.1.7 of the ComReg Document 08/02, 2008 (“the Numbering
Conventions”).2 states that:
“A geographic number may only be allocated to an entity whose address, as
registered with ComReg or its network operator, is within the designated
geographic numbering area for that number. This means that, for PSTN
purposes, calls to the number concerned must be fully terminated to the enduser within that geographic area unless they clearly exit the fixed network
PSTN within the area (i.e. logical termination on a gateway to some other
network).”
Decision No.3 of ComReg Document 04/103 “VoIP services in Ireland” 3 states that:
“(..) Irish geographic numbers shall not be allocated to end-users or
termination nodes located outside the MNA [Minimum Numbering Area].”
Case Summary:
ComReg was asked by DPC if it could identify an address/contact details for the user
of the advertised phone number for the service associated with the complaints they
had been receiving. The number was advertised on http://www.onlinepccare.com/ as a
contact number. The telephone number used to make the call is not known; however
one customer who received such a call asked the caller for his number and the reply
was the Relevant Number. In this regard, ComReg was asked by DPC if it could
identify an address/contact details for the user of the advertised phone number for the
service associated with the complaints they have been receiving.
1
Communications Regulation Act, 2002 (No. 20 of 2002), amended by the Communications
Regulation (Amendment) Act 2007 (No. 22 of 2007).
2
Reference Document: National Numbering Conventions v6.0 (Document No: 08/02, Date: 02
January 2008).
3
Response to Consultation - VoIP services in Ireland Numbering and related issues (Document No:
04/103, Date: 14 October 2004)
We established that the number in question was allocated to Verizon Ireland Limited
(“Verizon”), who then allocated the number to Digiweb Ltd (“Digiweb”). Digiweb
then allocated the number to Voxbone SA (“Voxbone”). ComReg contacted Voxbone
asking it to confirm that that the user of this number has a registered address within
the correct Minimum Numbering Area (“MNA”). (Dublin South MNA). as required
by ComReg Document 04/103.
Voxbone replied stating that the registered address for the user of the number was not
in the MNA. Voxbone stated that that the customer has the obligation to provide
Voxbone with an address within the geographical area of the geographical number,
Since this particular customer failed to comply with this contractual obligation,
Voxbone disconnected the number on 14 July 2010.
Case closed: 15 July 2010
Case officer: Nessa Murphy
Contact: [email protected]