Warehousing / Brokering

This is a partial copy of the communications act regarding toll free numbers, it may or may not be complete.  SMSGOV.com makes the following text available for easy reference for the Tollfree Advisory Committee.  For the exact text, refer to the communications act section 251.  For legal advice, refer to legal counsel.

Sec. 52.105 Warehousing.

(a) As used in this section, warehousing is the practice whereby Responsible Organizations, either directly or indirectly through an affiliate, reserve toll free numbers from the Service Management System database without having an actual toll free subscriber subscribing for phone services for whom those numbers are being reserved.

(b) Responsible Organizations shall not warehouse toll free numbers. There shall be a rebuttable presumption that a Responsible Organization is warehousing toll free numbers if:

(1) The Responsible Organization does not have an identified toll free subscriber agreeing to be billed for monthly service associated with each toll free number reserved from the Service Management System database; or

(2) The Responsible Organization does not provide switched telephone services before switching a toll free number from reserved or assigned to working status; or

(3) The Responsible Organization is acting as an intermediary either for or as a broker providing a gateway into the Service Management System to circumvent the articles of this Section; or

(4) The Responsible Organization does not have an identified toll free subscriber agreeing to be billed for service associated with a toll free number before switching that toll free number from reserved or assigned to working status.

(c) Responsible Organizations shall not maintain a toll free number in
reserved status if there is not a prospective toll free subscriber
requesting that toll free number.

(d) A Responsible Organization’s act of reserving a number from the Service
Management System database shall serve as that Responsible Organization’s
certification that there is an identified toll free subscriber agreeing to
be billed for monthly service associated with the toll free number.

(e) Tariff Provision . The following provision shall be included in the
Service Management System tariff and in the local exchange carriers’ toll
free database access tariffs:

[T]he Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has concluded that
warehousing, which the FCC defines as Responsible Organizations, either
directly or indirectly through an affiliate, reserving toll free numbers
from the SMS database without having an identified toll free subscriber from
whom those numbers are being reserved, is an unreasonable practice under
Sec. 201(b) of the Communications Act and is inconsistent with the Commission’s
obligation under Sec. 251(e) of the Communications Act to ensure that numbers
are made available on an equitable basis; and if a Responsible Organization
does not have an identified toll free subscriber agreeing to be billed for
service associated with each toll free number reserved from the database, or
if a Responsible Organization does not have an identified, billed toll free
subscriber before switching a number from reserved or assigned to working
status, then there is a rebuttable presumption that the Responsible
Organization is warehousing numbers. Responsible Organizations that
warehouse numbers will be subject to penalties.