Opinion ID: 3039139
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Brokering

Text: At oral argument, the appellees focused their efforts on convincing us that even if we do not find that the 1999 Agreement constituted a sale, we should find that it constituted impermissible number brokering. See 47 C.F.R. 52.107(a)(1). We find no support for this notion. Again and again the FCC has defined number brokering as the sale of a number. In the regulation itself, number brokering is defined as “the selling of a toll free number by a private entity for a fee.” 47 C.F.R. 52.107(a). The FCC repeated the regulatory language in the December 21, 2007 decision, indicating that “[s]ection 52.107(a)(2) of the Commission’s rules prohibits ‘brokering,’ which is the selling of a toll-free number by a private entity for a fee.” In the Matter of Toll-Free Service Access Codes, 2007 WL 4481492, at . Ten years earlier, the FCC indicated that “[b]rokering is the buying or selling of numbers.” In the Matter of Toll Free Service Access Codes, 8 Second Report and Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 12 F.C.C.R. 11162, 11164-65 ¶ 2 n.10 (F.C.C. 1997). Accordingly, we find no basis to conclude that number brokering is broader than selling toll free telephone numbers.