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Telecommunications

Communications in New England New England has a modern and freely available system of telecommunications infrastructure that is cheaply provided to all people in any part of the country.

By law, all New Englanders must be able to have a connection to a telephone and the internet made available to their home or business at a reasonable price as set by the Communications Regulations Commission. On top of this, the quality of the service must be the same regardless of where in New England a person wishes to establish a connection. This means that high speed internet and fully functional phones are available to

Management

The government has legislated that it has full control over all public communication infrastructure in New England. Private companies are welcome to participate in the phone and internet market, but they are do not own the major telecommunications infrastructure, which is maintained and operated by the government through the Telecommunications Infrastructure Authority.

Communications Regulations Commission or CRC is a crown statutory agency responsible for the regulation of the telephone and internet industries. In particular, the CRC regulates the pricing of internet services and telephone calls, as well as ensuring that the highest level of service is being maintained by New England's telephone and internet providers. The CRC has the power to impose fines of up to C100,000 on providers, individuals and businesses that breach the Telecommunications Act and other guidelines that make up the regulatory framework.

The Domain Names Commission or DNC is a crown statutory agency responsible for the management of all internet domains under the .nw ccTLD. The DNC registers all domain names, and is also responsible for the implementation of any new SLDs that may be created. The DNC has full regulatory authority over disputes that may emerge between owners of different domains, or over the ownership of a particular domain. In rare circumstances, the DNC has the power to veto the registration of a domain if it believed to be excessively offensive or in poor taste. The DNC does not have authority over web content, which is managed by the Communications Regulations Commission.

The Telecommunications Infrastructure Authority or TIA is a crown statutory agency responsible for the management of New England's telephone and data hardware. All cabling, exchanges, public microwave links, as well links to overseas cables and satellite links are owned and maintained by the authority. TIA was established when the assests of Telstra were transferred back in to public owndership.

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Providers

Telecom New England Both the telephone and internet provision market is fully open, with competition shared between a number of public and private companies. All must operate according to statutory guidelines that are policed by the Communications Regulations Commission.

Telephones - Internet -

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Internet Domains

Permissible SLDs
SLD Purpose
.ac Academic
.as Association
.co Company
.gn General
.gv Government
.ml Military
.nt Network
.or Organisation

New England's country code top level domain (ccTLD) is .nw. By law, only New England residents can obtain a domain under the .nw ccTLD.

There are currently eight permissible second-level domains available in New England. Depending the nature of entity and purposed use of a domain, restrictions apply on the use of almost all of New England's second level domains. These are statutory restrictions which have been placed on the SLDs to prohibit their registration or use by entities other than those stated by law. The only unrestricted domain is .gn, which is available to any New England resident. The restrictions are as follows:

Management of the SLDs in New England is carried out by the Domain Names Commission, which is responsible for the registration of all of New England's domains. Depending on the domain required, the DNC is allowed to charge for use a domain, and this charge is usually renewed every two or five years.

In practice, the role of registration and receipt of money is carried out by New England's internet providers. The providers then pass the information required onto the DNC for entry into the DNS.

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Telephone Numbering

Area Codes of New England
Area Codes Map
Code Zone
02 Metropolitan
03 North Western
04 Northern
05 North Eastern
06 South Eastern

All private or commercial telephone numbers are eight digits in length, and are usually written as xxxx-xxxx. The first two digits identify the exchange of the number and the following six numbers identify the individual telephone line. In large exchanges, there are usually two or three ranges taken up.

There are six area codes in New England. These codes separate out the phone numbers, and make the same number available six times in the different zones. The codes are also used by telephone providers to set the rate of charging for Standard Trunk Calls (STDs).

To dial a number inside of one's area code, a person would dial xxxx-xxxx, whereas a person wanting to dial outside their area code would need to dial the code and then the telephone number like: 02 xxxx-xxxx. Persons dialling from overseas must also add the country code, but can omit the leading zero from the area code: +693 2 xxxx-xxxx.

Mobile telephone numbers are seven digits and all have a three digit prefix of 011-014 for commercial phones and 015-019 for private phones. A standard mobile number is usually written as 01x-xxx-xxxx.

Outside the standard dialling system are the Special Code Plan of numbers. These are used for specialist situations and are dialled with a prefix of four numbers followed by a six digit number like: 0800-xxx-xxx. Usage is generally assigned as follows:

111 is the universal Emergency Telephone Number in New England, which is used to contact the police, fire, accident & emergency and civil defence service in emergency situations. By law, every operating telephone must be able to dial 111 without charge or interruption. Calls to 111 are routed through a call centre before being passed to the appropriate emergency service.

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