Frankenstein Ported Numbers detection
Frankenstein Ported Numbers detection
At last week's United Nation's ITU E.164 meeting in Geneva, a friendly regulator raised a topic with us that we've been tracking for a while — what we're now calling Frankenstein Ported Numbers (FPN). Dead prefixes with individual subscriber numbers that don't stay dead.
The scenario is a well-known problem among regulators from countries with number portability:
- A regulator assigns a prefix range to an operator.
- That operator allocates individual numbers to subscribers.
- Some of those subscribers port their numbers to other networks.
- The original operator folds.
- The regulator reclaims the entire prefix range, officially marking it as inactive/not in service/reclaimed.
- The ported numbers live on! Kept alive by the receiving network's infrastructure in some dystopian Frankenstein mishmash of dead number ranges but active numbers. At night people hear the terrifying hiss of a left-open carrier connection on long distance lines and the scraping of the STROWGER mechanical exchange selectors who are tasked with breathing life into these numbers.
(apologies to anyone with one of these numbers...).
These FPNs sit in a previous blind spot. The parent prefix they belong to no longer exists in the national numbering plan, yet the numbers themselves are still in service. Often they are business numbers that the business does not want to change and so they move their whole block of numbers to a friendly provider who has the capability to host the numbers and announce the routing to their switch.
If you're doing prefix-based routing or fraud screening, and you don't know about these FPNs, you'll end up blocking calls to and from phone numbers that are genuinely active — because the prefix they came from no longer exists in the current numbering plan.
This is especially pertinent if you're in a country where a regulator requires you to perform full CLI validation on calls.
Thankfully we have some good industry friends who have helped out with this problem. This week we're pleased to announce that we've integrated over 290,000 individually ported numbers (and sometimes 10-blocks or 100-block ported ranges) into the e164 dataset. These are numbers where the team detected the original prefix allocation has been withdrawn by the regulator, but the individual number remains actively ported and in service on another network.
Because we track only the original network that the number was allocated to, and not the ported-to network, you will find that we've added back a lot of old network names that you might remember from a by-gone era. If you spot one of these in the dataset, it's one of the FPNs.
Numbering Plan Changes this update
- Modified existing prefixes: 3,095
- New prefixes added: 293,459
- Prefixes removed: 335
- Total changes: 296,889
This week's highlights
- 247 new companies joined the numbering plan - These are the long-gone networks where some ported numbers still exist - see the Frankenstein Ported Number commentary above.
- 5 companies went dark
- 4 major M&A movements detected
New companies that we welcome to the Numbering Plan
New company: AUGE TELECOM LTDA
Auge Telecom Ltda is a Brazilian telecommunications company based in Grupiara, Minas Gerais, that operates as a licensed Servicos de Comunicacao Multimidia (SCM) provider, offering high-speed fiber-optic internet services. It delivers residential, business and gamer-focused ultra broadband, as well as dedicated links, LAN-to-LAN connections, ISP transit, neutral network and colocation services to homes, companies and public institutions in Minas Gerais. Learn more.
Added Brazil: BRA-553432500-GEOGRAPHIC
New company: Colt Telecom
Colt Technology Services (originally founded in 1992 as City of London Telecommunications) is a pan-European telecommunications company that provides data center, network, and voice services. The company operates fiber-optic networks across 27 European cities in 11 countries, including the Netherlands through its subsidiary Colt Technology Services B.V. In the Netherlands, Colt offers digital subscriber line (DSL) services, Internet Solution Centers for web hosting, and was recognized as the only fixed network operator to be named "Best in Class" in the Information and Communications Technology category. Learn more.
Added Netherlands: NLD-3120602-GEOGRAPHIC
New company: MEDIANET INVEST A.E.
MEDIANET INVEST A.E. (Inalan) is a Greek telecommunications company that sells, installs, maintains, leases and supports cable and fiber optic networks for the provision of all types of telecommunications services, including but not limited to internet, television, cable television and other types of networks in Greece or abroad. The company operates under the ISP brand name "Inalan" and provides Cable/DSL/ISP services with traffic levels of 20-50Gbps across Europe. Learn more.
Added GRC: GRC-30210254-GEOGRAPHIC
Added GRC: GRC-30231154-GEOGRAPHIC
Added GRC: GRC-302821254-GEOGRAPHIC
New company: NEWCASTLE TEL CO
Newcastle specializes in the design, installation, and ongoing support of the following applications: VoIP telephone systems, voice response, speech recognition, call centers, fax, unified communications, cloud services, messaging, facial recognition, data storage, consulting, and high level managed services. Newcastle Communications is based in Bethpage, New York and has certified sales and technical representatives in Florida, Missouri, and Texas. Newcastle is a nationally recognized integrator of voice and data solutions, with an industry reputation for technical depth, problem solving and quick response and was founded in 1980. Learn more.
Added USA: USA-15405960-GEOGRAPHIC
Added USA: USA-15405961-GEOGRAPHIC
Added USA: USA-1540864-GEOGRAPHIC
Added USA: USA-15408970-GEOGRAPHIC
Added USA: USA-15408974-GEOGRAPHIC
Added USA: USA-15408975-GEOGRAPHIC
Added USA: USA-15408976-GEOGRAPHIC
New company: NUSO Europe Limited
NUSO Europe Limited is an Irish subsidiary established on August 1, 2019, with its registered address in Dublin, serving as the European arm of NUSO, a global provider of cloud communications services. The company offers telecommunications services including Unified Communications, Hosted VoIP, SIP Trunking, Contact Centre solutions, SMS messaging, and CRM integration. NUSO provides cloud communications solutions for businesses throughout North America, the UK, and Europe. Learn more.
Added IRL: IRL-35312371-GEOGRAPHIC
Added IRL: IRL-35319138-GEOGRAPHIC
Added IRL: IRL-35319647-GEOGRAPHIC
New company: PTS
The Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS) is a government authority under the Ministry of Infrastructure (Sweden) that serves as the sector authority within the field of electronic communications and postal services. PTS monitors the electronic communications and postal sectors in Sweden, with the term 'electronic communications' including telephony, the Internet and radio. The organization works to ensure that everyone in Sweden shall have access to efficient, affordable and secure communications services. We picked up new numbering in Sweden with the PTS name and so we're presuming they're going to be using these for their own systems - but that's not yet confirmed. Learn more.
Added Sweden: SWE-46863975-GEOGRAPHIC
Added Sweden: SWE-46863976-GEOGRAPHIC
Added Sweden: SWE-46863977-GEOGRAPHIC
Added Sweden: SWE-46863978-GEOGRAPHIC
Added Sweden: SWE-46863979-GEOGRAPHIC
New company: SOSYALNET ILETISIM VE HABERLESME HIZMETLERI TICARET LIMITED
We are seeking more information and liaising with the telecoms registrar in Turkiye.
Added TUR: TUR-902169310-GEOGRAPHIC
Added TUR: TUR-902323120-GEOGRAPHIC
Added TUR: TUR-903124070-GEOGRAPHIC
Added TUR: TUR-908502430-VOIP
New company: VoIP operator
VoipQ is a Dutch VoIP operator and telecom supplier based in Gouda, the Netherlands, specializing in business telephony services. It provides SIP solutions for PBX systems, managed PBX systems, SIP trunks, and hosted VoIP/PBX services, which are delivered through a network of partners and resellers. Learn more.
Added Netherlands: NLD-31202345-GEOGRAPHIC
New company: Weblink IP Phone AB
Weblink IP Phone AB is a Swedish telecommunications operator with a complete portfolio of communication services, offering cloud-based PBX, SIP connections, ISDN, mobile telephony and internet connections through their own telephony platform. The company merged with Cellip AB in October 2021 to form InfraCom Communications AB, specializing in cloud telephony and Microsoft Teams telephony solutions.
Added Sweden: SWE-46187012-GEOGRAPHIC
Added Sweden: SWE-46313571-GEOGRAPHIC
Added Sweden: SWE-46423117-GEOGRAPHIC
Added Sweden: SWE-46451585-GEOGRAPHIC
Added Sweden: SWE-46980267-GEOGRAPHIC
New company: Wind Hellas Telecommunications
Wind Hellas (formerly TELESTET Hellas and later also TIM Hellas) is the original name of Nova. Wind Hellas was a Greek integrated telecommunications provider with headquarters in Athens, Greece that served more than 4.3 million customers with converged communication services extending from wireless to fixed telephony & ultra-fast Internet as well as Pay TV. On January 11, 2023, Wind Hellas merged with Nova Greece, therefore fixed and mobile telephony, Internet and other Wind services were rebranded to Nova, but the name seems to have stuck with the regulator Learn more.
Added GRC: GRC-306906-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306907-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306908-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306909-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306930-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306931-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306932-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306933-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306934-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-3069350-MSRN
Added GRC: GRC-3069351-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-3069352-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-3069353-MSRN
Added GRC: GRC-3069354-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-3069355-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-3069356-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-3069357-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-3069358-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-3069359-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306936-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306937-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306938-MOBILE
Added GRC: GRC-306939-MOBILE
Gone Dark Companies and their ranges that have been dropped by the regulator
Add these prefixes to your block list in the short term.
Removed company: APCA IT GmbH
Removed company: BES SARL (landline)
Removed company: ShoreTel UK Limited
Removed company: Tele.Co&Constractions
Removed company: UltraNet
M&A Watch
Each update we track if all prefixes from one company have been moved to a new company. This can highlight M&A activity, or a company leaving a geographical market.