The Integrated Public Number Database
On 14 November 2011, the Minister announced a review of the IPND. The period for making submissions in response to the IPND Review discussion paper have now closed. Public submissions are available online.
The Integrated Public Number Database (IPND) is a centralised database of all Australian telephone numbers and associated subscriber details. The IPND is maintained by Telstra as the IPND Manager under Clause 10 of the 
Carrier License Conditions (Telstra Corporation Limited) Declaration 1997. Access to the IPND is governed by Part 13 of the Telecommunications Act 1997 (the Act).
Under the arrangements, telephone companies (known as carriage service providers or CSPs) must provide accurate information about their subscribers to Telstra, as the IPND manager. The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) has a compliance monitoring and enforcement role in relation to the IPND.
Disclosure and use of IPND data is strictly regulated. Data users must register with the IPND Manager and IPND data can only be used for specific purposes.
IPND data underpins a range of services and activities. Critical users of the IPND are:
- the emergency call services
- the emergency alert system, and
- law enforcement and national security agencies.
The IPND is also used for a range of other purposes. Non-critical users of the IPND are:
- public number directory producers
- directory and operator assistance providers
- location-dependent carriage services (LDCS) providers (these services route calls based on the location of the caller and are used for a range of service, from government, to taxi and pizza services). and
- researchers for electoral, health and government policy research.
Public number directory producers and researchers must be separately authorised under the IPND Scheme to use IPND data. The IPND scheme is administered by the ACMA. More information about the IPND and the IPND Scheme is available at the ACMA IPND web page.
The Communications Alliance, a telecommunications industry body, has developed two codes of practice on IPND data that deal with how CSPs supply, receive and format customer data for the IPND. More information about industry codes is available at the Communications Alliance website.
