RCC proposes government-use test for global E.164 numbers

Summary

RCC member states propose adding government use, including police, and military use of global international numbering resources to Resolution 190's definition of E.164 misuse.
The filing changes a definitional clause. Its existing study and director instructions remain; Doha must decide whether the new label enters the ITU rulebook.

A phone number usually gets into trouble when it was never assigned, or when its holder uses it for something outside the assignment. RCC member states have a third suspect in mind: the purpose of the user. Their Russian-language addendum 33, listed under ITU contribution 94 on 23 October, would count government use—including police—or military use of a global international numbering resource as misuse.

The location of the edit matters. Resolution 190, adopted in 2014, currently describes two routes into misuse in its considering b) paragraph: a number used outside the ITU-T criteria under which it was assigned, or an unassigned number used to provide a telecom service. The RCC adds a third route in that same sentence. A resource could satisfy its assignment criteria and still face a new purpose-based objection. The sponsors say requests for global resources for military, police or government purposes are growing; their filing gives no count or named application.

The draft leaves the operative instructions in place. ITU-T and ITU-D study groups would continue studying how to identify and resolve E.164 misuse, while the standards and development Bureau directors coordinate and help countries develop national numbering rules. The RCC has proposed a new line in the definition, with the existing institutional machinery underneath it. That makes the practical question sharper: who would determine whether a use is “government” when a public service and a government agency share an operator or an application?

E.164's 2026 summary describes an international public numbering plan with categories that include global services and global satellite services. The proposed words concern global international resources. ITU's current misuse notification form asks a reporting Member State or Sector Member to explain the assignment rule or condition it believes was broken. Doha's November conference will decide whether the purpose of a government user joins that vocabulary. The first useful follow-up will be the exact adopted wording and any change to the reporting test.