Category: Compliance
Type: Paid Integration
Industries: Telcos/ MSPs
Location: Australia only

IPND Integration Summary

The Independent Public Number Database (IPND) helps government departments handle emergency and life-threatening situations.

Under Australian Law (Specifically the Telecommunications Act of 1997) any company who sells Voice services must send the relevant information (e.g. the phone number, name and address associated with a new customer) to the IPND whenever a service is activated, modified or disconnected. Providers also have to accept daily and monthly error files from the database relating to instances where they suspect inaccurate data has been provided, or they are not sure if a service matches the details provided.

Meeting these reporting requirements can be time-consuming, but is essential for every provider of voice services. Not only is it a legal requirement, but it can also save lives as emergency service providers rely on the accuracy of information provided to the IPND to assist in life-threatening situations such as bushfires or calls to 000.

Our integration sends required data such as the phone number, address and related customer details to the database automatically. For under $100 a month, it is one of the easiest ways for providers to meet their compliance obligations relating to the IPND.

What is it?

Emersion’s IPND integration helps companies to meet their compliance obligations under the Telecommunications Act 1997. Under the act, every business who sells voice services to end-users must provide the phone number, address and related customer details to the Independent Public Number Database (IPND). 

The IPND is a centralised database that contains the record for every telephone number issued by Carriage Service Providers (CSPs) to their customers in Australia. 

Only specific data users (mostly emergency services, national security and law enforcement agencies) can gain access to data held in the IPND. It is often used in emergency or life-threatening situations (e.g. Bushfires or responses to 000 calls) and so it is critical that the information held on the IPND is kept up to date. 

What information needs to be sent to the IPND?

Any company who sells voice services in Australia must send the following information to the IPND:

• The public number (service number)
• The name of the customer
• The name of the CSP
• The service address of the customer
• An alternate address flag 
• Whether the service is listed or unlisted
• If listed, the customer’s name and address for public number directories
• What type of service it is (e.g. mobile, fixed, payphone)
• If practical, what the service is used for (e.g. Government, business, charity or private purposes)

In addition to this, companies also need to have the ability accept error files from the IPND on a daily and monthly basis. 

• Daily Error Files – The IPND believe that the customer has provided incorrect details. The provider must check the details and resend them to the IPND. 
• Monthly Error Files – The IPND sends the details of services where they are not sure if the customer is the owner of the service. These services need to be checked and resent to the IPND. 

This is tedious and time consuming for most providers. Emersions IPND integration automatically sends this information to the IPND Manager (currently Telstra) on a daily basis. 

This includes: 

• New service activations
• Service modifications (e.g. an address is changed)
• Service disconnections 

Who is it for?

Any Australian company selling voice services including: 

• Fixed-line connections (phone, payphones, faxes etc.)
• Mobile phone plans
• VoIP services

This includes Telco Retailers, Telco Wholesalers and some Managed Service Providers (MSPs). It should be noted that while many providers believe their wholesaler is managing their IPND reporting requirements, it still remains their responsibility to ensure that their business is meeting their IPND reporting requirements. Many wholesalers do not even collect enough information to populate the IPND with the required data. Any fines or regulatory action is mandated it will be against the business providing services to end-users and not the wholesaler.  For under $100 a month, Emersion’s IPND Integration gives your business full control of the data and makes it easy to meet your obligations to the IPND.   

What are the benefits of the integration?

The main benefit of the integration is that it helps Australian business to meet their IPND reporting requirements. This is a legal requirement placed upon any Australian business selling voice and data services. 

Companies who fail to meet the requirements face fines of up to $10 Million. In March of this year, 15 Australian Telcos were issued warnings for not meeting the requirements under the law. Many of these companies scrambled to build their own IPND reporting systems, which is costly. 

If you are already using Emersion, the IPND integration is a relatively inexpensive way to meet your IPND requirements without additional development work. Set up is straightforward, with comprehensive documentation provided on the Emersion Knowledge Base.

If you are an existing customer and want to find out more about the IPND integration, click here to view our documentation. 

For new customers,  please fill in the below form and one of our consultants will be in touch. 

Notes:

Know your obligations Carriers and carriage service providers, including internet and VoIP service providers (Australian Communications and Media Authority September 2015)