DID Exchange in 2019? Why do we need another one? Part 1
Introduction
The concept of DID Exchange involves the exchange of direct inward dialing (DID) numbers inventory between two or more carriers over the internet. Phone service providers send phone calls from one number to another using this process, which involves carriers obtaining, provisioning, and assigning one or more DID numbers to communication service provider networks. There are different types of virtual DID numbers available today, such as national, mobile, toll-free, and short-code, with various capabilities such as voice, fax, SMS, and video.
However, the challenge arises when trying to buy or sell DIDs from operators, which can involve a lengthy process to get paperwork done and business cases approved. Dealing with one entity can help avoid issues and resolve them quickly, but there are also inventory issues such as choosing the right provider with the desired capabilities. That’s why we need a new DID Exchange platform to address these challenges and simplify the process.
To summarize, a single DID provider cannot fulfill all the requirements of the buyer. Often, the buyer needs to purchase numbers from multiple providers to meet their needs. This poses a challenge for the buyer in terms of troubleshooting, managing billing, and integrating with different API documentation.
Selling DIDs (General Challenges)
When it comes to selling DID numbers, there are several challenges that sellers face. One of the major problems is finding customers for those DIDs. This requires building relationships, establishing agreements, defining SLAs (Service Level Agreements), and convincing big DID consumers to work with a small DID numbering provider. For example, companies like Uber, Careem, Expedia, GoDaddy, Lyft, and Tesla would typically work with a CPaaS provider like Twilio, Nexmo, or Voxbone to get the phone number coverage they need with the ability to manage their accounts using programmable APIs.
The solution to finding customers and setting terms for DID sales is to have a marketplace that exposes programmable APIs for sellers to automate the process. However, becoming a CPaaS provider just to sell your DID numbers inventory is not practical. Therefore, a marketplace that is already integrated with CPaaS providers’ software is needed to put your virtual phone numbers inventory in front of all the consumers.
Another challenge for DID sellers is how to get paid instantly for those DID sales and how to manage billing for purchases, cancellations, and other activities.
The solution is to have a DID exchange that allows sellers to set their own pricing values from a web portal or via API. This will make it easier for sellers to manage their inventory, pricing, and billing in one central location.
To address the third challenge of how to receive instant payment for DID sales, the exchange platform must enable immediate transfer of funds to the seller’s account balance, which can then be easily withdrawn through various payment methods such as bank transfer, prepaid Visa, or PayPal.
As for the fourth challenge of automated billing management for purchases and cancellations, the DID exchange should provide a user-friendly interface for sellers to view their listed DIDs, track the status of purchased DIDs, view billing details, and access a comprehensive history of payouts and sales.
Example:
To address the final challenge, which is finding a marketplace that offers a programmable API for sellers to automate the process of selling DID numbers, the exchange simply needs to provide API capabilities for developers to execute the same operations programmatically. This will enable sellers to automate the selling process using API, making it more efficient and convenient.
Programmable DID Selling via API Example:
In my opinion, selling a phone number on the marketplace should be simple. Here’s a dummy example of how a seller can publish their DID on the marketplace via API:
To be continued …
