ITU - What is UIFN?

BASIC DESCRIPTION:

A Universal International Freephone Number (UIFN) enables an International Freephone Service (IFS) customer to be allocated a unique freephone number(s) that is the same throughout the world.
A UIFN is composed of a three-digit country code for global service application, i.e. 800, followed by an 8 digit Global Subscriber Number (GSN), resulting in an 11­digit fixed format. (An IFS caller must dial an international prefix prior to the UIFN.)

The Telecommunication Standardization Bureau of the ITU has been requested to perform the task of Registrar for UIFNs, responsible for processing registration requests and assignment of the GSN portion of the UIFN in accordance with ITU­T (new) Recommendation E.169 and (revised) Recommendation E.152, "International Freephone Service".

INFORMATION DESCRIBING RECOMMENDATION E.169:

The ITU-T Recommendations are the international standards developed by the Telecommunication Standardization Sector (formerly CCITT) of the ITU. They are the result of studies carried out on technical, operating and tariff questions with the aim of ensuring world-wide interconnectivity and interoperability, including radio systems in public telecommunication networks, and the level of performance required for these interconnections. There are currently over 2,600 ITU-T Recommendations in force, the majority of which are new or revised Recommendations that have appeared since the CCITT Blue Book (1988). These Recommendations have been approved at ITU-T Study Group Meetings by the Members of the ITU-T Sector. They include any amendments or editorial changes that might have been made during the editing process. They are published in English, French and Spanish. Some of them are also available in Arabic, Chinese and Russian in printed form.

INFORMATION DESCRIBING RECOMMENDATION E.169:

I would specifically draw your attention to, inter alia, the following important points, extracted from Recommendation E.169:

Only a Recognized Operating Agency (ROA), as defined in the Annex to the Constitution of the ITU, can submit an application for a UIFN on behalf of an IFS customer. National administrations may, as a national matter, choose to coordinate applications from their ROAs, or to be the applicant on behalf of their ROAs.

UIFNs will be assigned to IFS customers who will use the IFS service between two or more countries, i.e. IFS customers offering a service that is only accessed from within a single national, or integrated numbering plan, will not be considered eligible.

UIFNs can only be assigned to IFS customers committed to implement the UIFN between two or more countries within 90 days from the date of reservation of this number with the UIFN Registrar, otherwise the number will no longer be reserved and will go back into a pool of numbers available for assignment.

The function of the UIFN Registrar is a new and challenging operational task for the ITU, notably for the TSB, the Information Services and Finance Departments, and therefore I would be very pleased to receive your comments and suggestions on any aspects of this project which may contribute to its successful inauguration during the 3 December 1996 - 4 February 1997 startup phase, and beyond.

Please address your comments to:

The UIFN Registrar,
Telecommunication Standardization Bureau
Mr. Zoltan John Tar
Fax: +41 22 730 5853
Internet: tar@itu.ch
Mr. Ah-ho Mafat
Fax: +41 22 730 5853
Internet: mafat@itu.ch

Additional preliminary information is also available on the World Wide Web at http://www.itu.ch/uifn.

Yours faithfully,
Th. Irmer
Director of the Telecommunication
Standardization Bureau
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Last Modified: 2000-03-06