A consortium comprising the IE Domain Registry and the Internet Foundation of Austria (IPA) have emerged as the selected provider of Ireland’s first e-numbering (ENUM) service, for voice over IP (VoIP).
ENUM services enable VoIP users to locate other users even when their VoIP numbers are unknown.
The IEDR/IPA consortium won the right to provide ENUM services in Ireland following an international tender by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg).
The new company IENUM Ltd will open for business in the first quarter of 2007.
A formal agreement has been signed by the new chairman of ComReg Mike Byrne to provide a full ENUM service with the service providers IENUM Ltd.
“The new services provided by IENUM should form a firm basis for linking disparate islands of VoIP and should also offer real potential for carriers to enhance their interconnection routing and thereby reduce overall operational costs,” Byrne said.
The ENUM service will enable other VoIP to connect with each other based on the called party’s telephone number — still the most widely used form of address worldwide.
IEDR chief executive David Curtin said that the new consortium will be working closely with the various telcos and internet service providers to enable them to provide converged services to consumers.
“Together with our Austrian partner IPA, which was the first in the world to offer an ENUM registry, we plan to introduce a world-class ENUM registry and ENUM infrastructure to Ireland.
“We were pleased that our joint venture was selected in an international tender in the face of international and national competitors,” Curtin said.
By John Kennedy
