Numbering Advisory Committee (NAC)

• Terms of reference
• Committee members
• Committee meetings

The ACMA seeks to work closely with representatives of users of numbers on both the demand and supply sides of the telecommunications industry in formulating and administering numbering policy. The consultative arrangements established for the ACMA's Numbering Advisory Committee provide one of the means of achieving this aim.

The Numbering Advisory Committee was established in March 1991 by AUSTEL, one of the predecessors of the ACMA, and has met an average of three times a year since then to assist, first AUSTEL and then the ACMA, in performing its functions relating to management of Australia's numbering resources.

Meetings of the Numbering Advisory Committee follow a set of operational procedures which describe how the business of the Committee is conducted, when and where meetings are held, and the respective responsibilities of members and the secretariat (which is supplied by staff of the ACMA).

From time to time, the Committee establishes working groups to examine particular issues in greater detail. A number of such working groups are currently established to explore different aspects of the implementation of number portability. Membership of working groups is not confined to Committee members, so that particular expertise may be found to assist as required.

Members of the Numbering Advisory Committee include user groups (including those representing residential telephone users, small business and corporate users), carriage service providers (including the three largest carriers, Telstra, Optus and Vodafone), and a number of industry associations and government representatives.  A list of members and observers on the Committee is set out below.

Terms of reference

The terms of reference for the Numbering Advisory Committee are to provide advice and recommendations on issues related to the ACMA's numbering functions with the objective of improving the benefits to suppliers and users of carriage services and facilitating competition, and in particular on the following:

• the development, variation and administration of the Numbering Plan, and the more efficient use of that Plan by carriage service providers
• the specification and allocation of numbers, including:
  • conditions on the allocation of numbers
  • complex applications for the allocation of numbers
• the portability of numbers, including:
  • geographic numbers
  • mobile numbers
  • 1800 (freephone) numbers
  • 1300 (local rate) numbers
• the distribution and administration of annual numbering charges and allocation charges.

Committee members

• Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA)
• Australian Communications Consumer Action Network Limited (ACCAN) (formerly Consumers' Telecommunications Network Incorporated CTN)
• Australian Competition & Consumer Commission (ACCC)
• Australian Electrical & Electronic Manufacturers' Association Ltd (AEEMA)
• Australian Information Industry Association Ltd (AIIA)
• Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association Ltd (AMTA)
• Australian Phone Word Association Limited (APWA)
• Australian Telecommunications Users Group Ltd (ATUG)
• Communications Alliance Ltd (formed when SPAN and ACIF merged)
• Department of Broadband, Communications & the Digital Economy (formerly DCITA)
• Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Limited
• PowerTel Limited
• SingTel Optus Pty Limited
• Small Enterprise Telecommunications Centre Ltd (SETEL)
• Telstra Corporation Limited
• Vodafone Hutchison Australia Pty Limited (VHA) (formed when Vodafone Network Pty Limited and Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia) Limited merged)

Observers

• Engin Ltd
• Industry Number Management Services (INMS)
• Primus Telecommunications
• Verizon Australia Pty Limited

Committee meetings