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IENUM Announces the Launch of Commercial ENUM Service in Ireland

IENUM Limited, a 70% subsidiary of the IE Domain Registry (IEDR), today announced the availability of user ENUM (Electronic Numbering) services for telephone number holders in Ireland.

ENUM provides an efficient mechanism for VoIP services to locate a person online, even when their online addresses, such as VoIP number or e-mail address, are unknown. It does this based on a lookup of the called party's telephone number, which is still the most widely used form of address world-wide.

ENUM domains can now be registered at www.my-enum.ie for Geographic telephone numbers (eg 01 or 045 etc), Mobile phone numbers, '076' Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) numbers, and '0700' Personal Number Service numbers. The cost of an ENUM domain is 1 euro per month plus a validation fee, currently 25 euro payable on first registration, and 5 euro on revalidation.

Ireland is now the seventh country to announce the availability of ENUM services. IENUM Limited was selected as the Tier 1 ENUM registry following the first international commercial tender process. The IEDR's partner in the IENUM consortium is Internet Privatstifung Austria (IPA), the Austrian organisation which operates the .at domain name and provided the first commercial ENUM registry service in the world.

Commenting on the launch, David Curtin, Chief Executive of the IEDR, said: We look forward to working closely with the telecommunications and internet service providers as they provide new and converged services, such as VoIP and next generation services. The new ENUM service has the potential to encourage Irish business and consumers to adopt new, converged services to enhance their interconnection routing options by staying on-net, therefore reducing operational costs. The success of Skype, for example, gives an indication of the potential in this area.

ComReg's Chairperson, Mike Byrne, said: ComReg is encouraged to see the emergence of ENUM as a full commercial service in Ireland today. ENUM has the potential to be a key enabler of advanced IP-based services. ComReg has been to the fore in encouraging the development of ENUM in Ireland and we are pleased to welcome the opening of IENUM's service which we see as an innovative and potentially valuable new communications facility for Irish consumers.

In the coming months, IENUM plan to run an information programme, showcasing the future potential of ENUM for VoIP providers, telecoms providers and Irish businesses operating in multiple locations across the globe.