According to WTSA Resolution 20 (Rev. New Delhi, 2024), “Procedures for allocation and management of international telecommunication numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources”, the assignment of international resources is a responsibility of the Director of TSB. The codes that are allocated by the Director of TSB should be used according to the purposes for which they have been allocated. In addition, WTSA has instructed the Director of TSB, in close collaboration with Study Group 2, and any other relevant study groups, to follow up on the misuse of any numbering, naming, addressing and identification resources and inform the Council accordingly.
The misuse of an ITU-T E.164 international numbering, naming, addressing and identification resource occurs where the use of that numbering resource does not conform to the relevant ITU-T Recommendation(s) assignment criteria for which it was assigned or when an unassigned numbering resource is used in the provision of a telecommunication service.
Different types of ITU-T E.164 numbering resources have different assignment criteria, and therefore different forms of misuse may be identified. There are three distinct situations:
- Misuse of numbering resources that have been assigned by the Director of TSB to entities other than Member States who meet the assignment criteria established by the relevant ITU-T Recommendations;
- Misuse of numbering resources that are assigned by Member States, and
- Misuse of numbering resources that have not been assigned.
Procedures for submission of reports of alleged misuse
The
procedures for submission of reports of alleged misuse by Administrators or operators (whether a member of ITU or not) are specified in clause 6 of
Recommendation ITU-T E.156 (2025). Administrations and operators may report alleged misuse of numbering resources.
- Administrations, ITU-T Sector Members or Associates of ITU-T Study Group 2 may report it directly to the Director of TSB via the
on-line form on the ITU website.
- Other entities that are not members have to report via their Administration, unless the said Administration has notified the Director of TSB that the non-member entity is authorized to engage in direct communication with the Director of TSB for the purposes of reporting misuse of ITU-T E.164 numbering resources, in which case the notification can be submitted directly via the
on-line form.
- Administrations, ITU-T Sector Members and Associates may also bring reports of misuse directly to ITU-T Study Group 2 via a contribution.
In the case of unassigned numbering resources or numbering resources assigned to entities other than a Member State, an Administration or an operator (whether a member of ITU or not) that believes misuse of an ITU-T E.164 numbering resource is occurring may contact the TSB Director as specified in Recommendation ITU T E.156 and summarized above.
In the case of
numbering resources assigned to a Member State, an Administration, an operator (whether a member of ITU or not) or an individual that detects the alleged misuse of numbering resources should:
- Notify their Administration, if appropriate;
- Directly contact the entity that appears to be involved in the misuse, if possible; and
- Contact the Administration under whose jurisdiction the misuse is purported to have originated or detected.
In addition to the above, an Administration or an operator (whether a member of ITU or not) can report the alleged misuse to TSB as summarized above.
Any reported case of alleged misuse of international E.164 numbers to an entity other than a Member State will be processed in accordance with the steps set out in clause 8 of Recommendation ITU-T E.156 (2025).
In providing information regarding possible misuse, submitters are asked to explain why they believe that a misuse is occurring, for example use of non-assigned resources, or incorrect routing of assigned resources, or use of resources for purposes other than those for which they were assigned.
Information regarding reported cases and the actions taken in response to those reports are published on the ITU website.
Upon receipt of a report of misuse of E.164 numbering from the contact point of a reporting Administration, the entity receiving the report of misuse should take the necessary and appropriate action determined by the receiving Administration's national legal and regulatory framework. Such reports should be provided directly to any operator or Administration that requests such contact details and may also be provided to the Director of TSB for publication on the ITU website.
In order to implement the provisions of this Recommendation, a mailing list open only to ITU members is available (
misusereports@lists.itu.int). All cases of misuse that are reported to TSB will be posted to that mailing list. Note that the
misusereports@lists.itu.int mailing list will only distribute messages sent from TSB.
- Subscribe to the mailing list
here.
- Mailing list archive is
here.
Discussion among members on submitted misuse reports should take place on the Question 1/2 mailing list (
t25sg2q1@lists.itu.int) (subscribe
here; archive
here).
Furthermore, as per ITU-T E.156, Administrations and operators that are members of ITU, should notify to TSB the Numbering focal point for their organization. The information will be published on a
dedicated page on the ITU website, unless confidentiality is requested, in which case the contact details will be retained within TSB.
Kindly designate the Numbering focal point for your organization, providing the following information to
numbering@itu.int:
- First name, family name, e-mail address and/or ITU account username. Alternatively, a dedicated email address for numbering misuse may be provided instead of a personal email address.
- Country and organization.
- Whether or not you wish these contact details to be visible publicly via the ITU website. If no specific information is provided, or if no contact can be made with the Numbering focal point, then questions relating to misuse reports will be addressed to the main ADMIN contact for your organization, as indicated in the Global Directory. Further details can be found in TSB Circular 105 (November 2025), "Implementation of Recommendation ITU-T E.156 (2025) on Guidelines for ITU-T action on reported misuse of ITU-T E.164 number resources".
Member States are also invited to publish in the ITU Operational Bulletin such communications as they think appropriate in connection with possible misuse of numbering resources that is their responsibility, for example, pointing out that particular numbering ranges are not assigned and therefore should not be routed.
It should be noted that TSB will not intervene in any disputes concerning numbering resources assigned to Member States.
The attention of Member States is drawn to Council Resolution 262, Complaints from Members of the Union against other Members of the Union, which invites Members of the Union to abstain from calling upon the Secretary General to acquaint other Members with their disputes, either by publication in a Notification or by any other means; and instructs the Secretary General to refer those Members submitting complaints against other Members to the terms of the present Resolution, and to advise them that, in consequence, he cannot comply with their request. This is a generic resolution that also applies to the Director of TSB and to notices for the ITU Operational Bulletin.
All reports and any replies are available on this website and can be accessed only by
ITU user accounts with TIES access rights.