On Monday, September 15, 2003, The National Regulatory Authority for Communications (ANRC) launched for public consultation the project for the Decision on the procedure for granting the right to use national and international signaling point codes. The decision establishes the conditions under which a provider of electronic communication public networks may obtain the right to use certain national and international signaling point codes within the SS7 signaling system.
The electronic communication networks establish links between the terminals connected to the network. In order to establish, maintain and monitor these links, a signaling information transfer is needed – among terminals and the switchers they are connected to, the switchers within the network, and the systems of different networks, in the case of interconnection. In order to answer the new demands induced by the digital networks development, has led the International Telecommunications Union (UIT) to standardize a new signaling system, known as SS7, where signals are transmitted through dedicated circuits – which are different from the circuits used for voice transmission, for example. Within a signaling network, each switching system has associated a node, called signaling point and which can be identified through a code.
The international signalling point codes are alloted to the national regulatory authorities by the International Telecommunications Union. In their turn, the national authorities manage these codes and grant them to operators, individually. The signalling point codes within the internal networks of the operators are managed by these operators.
As these codes represent limited resources, an efficient use and impartial management is required, especially considering the increasing number of operators on the market. The decision proposed by ANRC establishes the procedures which will be used by ANRC for the management of the signalling codes as well as the obligations of the operators which are granted the right to use these codes.
According to the project, the electronic communications public networks providers should submit a request to ANRC in order to obtain the right to use national and international signalling codes. The Authority will analyse all requests and grant this right within 15 working days since the registration date. The right to use these codes is granted for an unlimited period, but it may be withdrawn or suspended if the holder does not meet his obligations. Also, this right may end on the request of the holder.
The project is available for consultation on ANRC Internet page, until October 15, 2003. The text of the decision project is accompanied by an explanatory memorandum.
The observations and comments of any interested person may be sent by fax at + 40 21 307 54 02 or by mail at consultare@anrc.ro.