How the Number Management System prepares Sint Maarten for the future

On the small island of Sint Maarten, the national numbering plan doesn’t change on a daily basis. Still, telecom regulator BTP set out to make number management more professional and lay out a proper foundation for future projects. To do that, BTP chose the Number Management System (NMS) of PXS. We spoke with Ryan Wijngaarde, Chief Corporate Development Officer at BTP, about his experience.

The challenge

“Before the NMS, we managed our numbering resources through a spreadsheet”, Wijngaarde starts explaining. “However, managing this information in a static document makes it difficult to identify the latest version and track changes of the numbering plan. It also limits our ability to generate accurate reports. As a result, we determined that a more effective solution was necessary.” 

He continues: “We found that custom-built software solutions can present challenges, often requiring significant investment and sometimes lacking full alignment with our specific business processes. When PXS gave us a presentation of the Number Management System, it turned out to be precisely what we needed.”

The solution

The NMS makes it possible to manage all numbering resources in one place. It provides an easy overview of the national numbering plan and allows regulators to assign and request available resources (such as number ranges).

Wijngaarde appreciates that the NMS is an off-the-shelf product with a monthly fee, and that it’s ready for use after configuration. “The portal is well thought out; you instantly see what you have to do”, he says. “In the past I worked with systems that had a lot of features, but required a week of training to understand. The NMS is not complex at all.”

From onboarding to going live, the implementation didn’t take more than a few months. “It was handled professionally, with all meetings on point. We got a demo, and as we decided to implement, that was followed up by an onboarding call. I had a few calls with one of the experts at PXS to explain the details and make final adjustments.”

“In the past I worked with systems that had a lot of features, but required a week of training to understand. The NMS is not complex at all.”

The NMS is not just easy to use, it also provides clear overview. A huge step forward over their previous way of working, Wijngaarde points out. “With a spreadsheet, the margin of error is high”, he says. “There’s a significant risk of assigning numbers that have already been allocated elsewhere, which requires us to reverse the assignment later. With the Number Management System, available numbering resources are instantly visible. It’s not even possible to give out resources that have already been assigned.”

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Photo: Head quarters of telecom regulator BTP.

The results

Although Wijngaarde is satisfied with the solution delivered, he’s not yet leveraging all features the NMS has to offer. For instance, he sees some room for improvement in internal processes. 

“As I’m the person responsible for the NMS, the next step is to give other people roles”, he explains. “The final approval for example, to actually assign the number range, should be handled by our director. If there’s a payment pending, this should be forwarded to our finance department.” 

The assignment of roles and different approval steps are readily available in the NMS; they only need to be configured. 

Besides his own regulator team, he also plans to provide telecom operators with access to the system. “We want to give them insight into the availability of numbering resources, so they can request these themselves”, Wijngaarde explains. “Everything in the system is perfectly set up to make that possible, so that’s something I would like to finalize this year.”

That’s why it’s good to know PXS is always at his side. “Any question I send to our contact person gets a swift response. The support is excellent.” 

All in all, the NMS prepared Sint Maarten for next steps. “When we implement number portability, we already laid out the foundation”, concludes Wijngaarde. “Number management has been established and documented. We are well equipped for the future.”

“Any question I send to our PXS contact person gets a swift response. The support is excellent.”