If the CMA was a library and its members were books the challenge of sorting and classifying them would defeat even the most dedicated bibliographer.  Being a most politely ordered bunch, they’d not dare classify any member in the Fiction section despite CFO’s comments about network plans that demand investment of ‘telephone number proportions’.

But if we had to classify our members they could be said to fall into three groups – those who manage their networks, those who manage or support their clients’ networks, and, a smaller group of suppliers who want to understand the business market needs.   The middle group includes consultants and supply-side intermediaries - ‘channel partners’, systems integrators and value-added resellers.  As Ofcom has recently been reminded, the networked comms eco-system is rather more complex than a few giant operators and mix of business/citizen consumers. 

This eco-system is now joined by umpteen IP service providers – especially for VoIP and IPTV - who are sizing up the Next Generation Networks and the prospects for innovative services.  Almost all these plans are rooted in the assumption that everyone will use some form of broadband access. 

Regulators have traditionally been in ‘catch-up’ mode.   The pitfalls of some new wizzy scheme usually only come to light when tested in the market, as we’ve just seen with the unintended consequences of call centre automation and the problems of silent calls.  This month, however, Ofcom is making a determined attempt to get ahead of the game with its consultations on Telephone Numbers and VoIP.  You cannot fully understand either without understanding both. 

The great numbers game seems to be a simple tidying up of the UK numbering plan.  It tries to remove consumer call-price confusion and reduce the wastage of numbers.  Look deeper and you’ll find issues about geographic numbers, 0800 ranges, regional codes, and roaming rip-off’s.  

Resellers with revenue-sharing business models will check the details with more care than previously.  Ofcom can hardly be faulted if those most affected don’t make the effort to engage in the consultation exercise.  Nor is it true that Ofcom executive bonuses are based on the combined weight and impenetrability of their consultation documents. 

The interplay with VoIP is more than the issue of 999 calls and whether to replicate this legacy in an all-IP NGN-world.  It seems plausible that most calls to emergency services might now be from mobile phones.  And anyway, what’s this fascination with UK numbers?  My VoIP provider offers not just a choice of numbers from New York, Paris or wherever but, much more usefully, the option to use several names through which I can be found wherever in the world I happen to be on-line. 

The theme that emerges from both consultations is the challenge of reconciling the old with the new.  This is equally evident in BT’s 21CN that will emulate the PSTN so well that, apparently, most of us will hardly notice the difference.     

Take a trip to your public library and the chances are you’ll find fewer books and many more Internet terminals.  We are increasingly defined not by our numbers but by our network connections.  A bit like the CMA membership.

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First published in NetworkingPlus, March 2006