What Is Telecom Federation and Why Should You Care?

Federation is group of service providers that directly peer with one another for the purposes of exchanging on-net voice traffic. Typically number to user look-ups are performed via ENUM (NAPTR DNS queries) but this is not always the case.

Why are service providers doing this?

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  • It’s the most effective way to exchange voice traffic
  • Voice and termination quality is superior
  • It is less expensive
  • “Bill and Keep” regulations are pushing the industry in this direction

What are some pitfalls you need to be aware of when implementing a federation strategy?

  • Many platforms do not support the underlying technology that makes Federations possible (ENUM)
  • “Poachers” or service providers that misrepresent the numbers they control will negatively affect cost and quality
  • Number management can be a slow and error prone process

How can RouteNGN™ help facilitate federation?

  • RouteNGN™ “speaks” ENUM and can translate it to a standard SIP message
  • RouteNGN™ can query multiple ENUM servers simultaneously
  • RouteNGN™ can mix and match federated and non-federated routes into a routing matrix
  • RouteNGN™ allows users to easily manage 10s of millions of phone numbers