[nc-transfer] Thoughts on the conference call - Part IV "Learning from the Telco's"

["Ross Wm. Rader" <ross@tucows.com>]

On the issue of "Learning from the Telcos"...

Practices and experiences in the North American telecommunications market
have been raised and examined many, many times. While allegations of
"slamming" are neither helpful, nor appropriate, there are very specific
procedures from telecommunications policy that we would be well served to
take notice of.

Specifically, the standardized processes and policies that telcos have
agreed upon and implemented to govern the transfer of clients between LEC's.
These processes have the benefit of thousands of hours of preparation and
discussion, constitute practical real-world touchstones for consumers, and
are governed by the wisdom of almost 100 years of telecommunications law.
Further, these processes take into account a wide variety of competitive
business models, the needs of consumers, as well as fair regulatory
oversight.

The Canadian version of this policy is called the PIC/CARE Handbook. The
"CARE" portion of the title is telco shorthand for "Customer Account Record
Exchange" and goes into great detail as to how, where, when, why and by whom
a customer is transferred from one telco to another. The FCC also maintains
a strikingly similar document governing the U.S. industry. The key point as
it relates to the PIC/CARE examples is that they are even-handed, simple to
administer and mindful of all of the parties to the transaction.

 Examination of these processes in light of our requirements may be in
order. To facilitate this, I have prepared a "Domains" version of the
relevant portions of the PIC/CARE Handbook. If the TF wishes, I will
distribute this document to the list. It must be noted up front that
adoption of policy like this would require the registries to take an active
role in the enforcement of their contracts. They have been reticent to do so
in the past that may make a policy of this type inappropriate for our use.
To paraphrase Danny's earlier question, "What role is the Registry willing
to take in order to facilitate inter-registrar domain transfers?"

Thanks,

-rwr



Tucows Inc.
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