Attorney: recommend choosing one that specializes in CLEC Interconnection

State Certification: required in each state you wish to provide service in

Interconnect Agreements: recommended for each RBOC / ILEC you’re interconnecting with

• Search through the existing Interconnection Agreements to find one that best fits your business and network plans. It’s much more cost effective to opt into one that has already been approved.

Long Distance Provider: recommended if you choose to offer long distance service

911 PSAP: required only when you offer voice services. Most metropolitan areas have a designated 911 service provider you connect to. (This is usually the RBOC / LEC, operating under state contract).

Administrative Operating Company (AOCN): required if you order central office codes. You can sign an agreement with Telcordia and handle your own BIRRDS inputs or you can sign an agreement with an AOCN provider to input your codes into BIRRDS for you. (BIRRDS is the data base used to create the Local Exchange Routing Guide [LERG] and Terminating Point Master [TPM].)

Billing Provider: required if you need help preparing and managing end user bills

CABS Billing Provider: required to submit Carrier Access Billing to other long distance providers that terminate calls on your network

Call Center to handle ordering, billing and repair issues: only necessary if you do not have the staff to handle these issues yourself

Centralized Message Distribution System (CMDS) provider: only necessary if you wish the seek reimbursement from other telecom providers for third party billing, calling cards, etc

Directory Assistance / Operator Services provider (OS/DA): only required if you provide voice services

NPAC agreement: only required if you order Central Office Codes (NPA-NXX-X) located in a pooling area or port numbers. Most of the USA is now pooled, though some rural areas are not.

 Regulatory Advisor: Highly recommended since they keep you up to date on all the FCC filings and taxes that you are required to pay

Service Order Activation (SOA) Provider: required if you have thousand block numbers (NXX-X) or port numbers

SS7 provider: required to gain connectivity to the SS7 network / database

SS7 Database services provider: All carriers must have access to NPACs LNP (local number portabiity) database to route their calls to ported numbers. However, the rest of the database services are only necessary for carriers that offer voice services. Optional database services include CNAM (Calling Name), LIDB (Line Information Database), ISVM (Inter-switch Voicemail), CLASS (star features such as *69) and Toll-free (800, 888,877,866 numbers) database.

NOTE: Services listed in blue are performed by Ionary Consulting and services listed in purple are performed by BackUP Telecom Consulting, LLC. Services listed in black are not performed by either consultant.

Updated 8/10/06