After nearly thirty years at the heart of telecommunications policy and industry collaboration, the Federal Communications Commission’s North American Numbering Council (NANC) will conclude its work this September. It’s the end of an era that has shaped how our industry functions and a change that will reverberate throughout the numbering world. As we reflect on the NANC’s important legacy, we feel deeply grateful for the countless professionals, companies, and organizations who, alongside 10x People, lent their expertise and time to this critical body. As NANC’s chapter closes, we’re left both proud of the progress made and mindful of the complex challenges ahead as the industry faces an evolving regulatory landscape and unresolved issues that still demand our attention.
The NANC was established in 1995 by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to act as a federal advisory committee, bringing together representatives from across the telecommunications ecosystem. Its mission: to advise the FCC on telephone numbering policy and to provide consensus-based solutions to complex technical and operational issues.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr outlined the importance of this work well, as recently quoted by Communications Daily: “Numbering is an issue that, all too frequently, people just take for granted. They just assume it’s going to work without much oversight or thought at all. But it takes a tremendous amount of work behind the scenes to oversee this complicated system with so many different parties and issues in the mix.”
Over the years, NANC became a cornerstone of industry collaboration and regulatory innovation. The council’s responsibilities spanned a wide spectrum of issues, including:
The Council also housed several key working groups, including the Numbering Administration Oversight Working Group, Local Number Portability Administration Working Group, Future of Numbering Working Group, Interoperable Video Calling Working Group, and the Call Authentication Trust Anchor Working Group — each composed of experts from across competitive carriers, incumbents, VoIP providers, public interest groups, and technology vendors.
With the NANC now dissolved, the FCC faces the challenge of maintaining the momentum and continuity of these critical functions. While staff at the FCC are working diligently to absorb the Council’s tasks, there is currently no clear or public path forward for how these responsibilities will be handled in a coordinated and transparent manner.
The loss of an established collaborative framework raises important questions:
Even as the structure of engagement changes, the challenges facing numbering policy remain as complex as ever. Among them:
These are not problems that can be solved in silos. They require cross-industry coordination, expert input, and thoughtful policy design — principles the NANC embodied throughout its existence.
To all NANC participants both past and present we offer a sincere thank you. Your service exemplified the best of what industry-government collaboration can achieve. From large carriers to small providers, from policy advocates to technologists, your collective efforts helped shape a resilient and forward-looking telecommunications landscape.
As we navigate the uncertainty of a post-NANC era, we must remain vigilant. The work is not done. The industry will need new collaborations, new voices, and renewed commitment to continue the legacy of informed, inclusive, and effective number policy development.
Let us honor the Council’s 30-year history not only by looking back, but by continuing to move our work forward, together.
