What is an Operating Company Number (OCN)?

What an Operating Company Number is

An Operating Company Number (OCN) is the company code that identifies a telecommunications provider in U.S. industry records. The National Exchange Carrier Association (NECA) assigns it. A provider needs its own OCN to request numbering resources and to qualify for STIR/SHAKEN signing under its own name. Koda Voice holds OCN 583H, assigned by NECA in the IPES category.

The code itself is short. Koda’s own code, 583H, shows the format: four characters, letters and digits. The code says nothing about a provider’s size or quality. It says that a specific legal entity has been recorded as a provider in its own right, and it ties that entity’s name to every record that carries the code, from numbering assignments to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Robocall Mitigation Database (RMD).

For a buyer of voice service, the OCN is a quick test of whether a provider holds its own numbering and signing credentials or relies on another carrier’s. For a carrier’s vetting team, the OCN is one of the identifiers checked before an interconnection request gets a reply.

Who assigns OCNs?

NECA, the National Exchange Carrier Association, assigns Operating Company Numbers. The FCC does not issue them, and neither does the North American Numbering Plan Administrator (NANPA). NANPA’s getting-started guide for interconnected VoIP providers states the sequence plainly: an interconnected VoIP provider must have an OCN before it can apply for numbering resources, and it requests that OCN from NECA.

NECA issues each code to a named legal entity under a category type. Koda completed its OCN request in 2026 as part of the same regulatory sequence that produced its FCC Registration Number, its Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) Form 499 filing and its RMD listing. Of those identifiers, the OCN is the one the numbering system asks for by name, and one of the three the Secure Telephone Identity Governance Authority (STI-GA) requires before a provider can sign its own calls.

What do the OCN category types mean?

NECA records a category type with each code. NANPA’s guide names the one an interconnected VoIP provider must hold, IPES; the table shows it beside the two legacy categories most often seen alongside it.

IPES is the category that matters for a VoIP carrier. NANPA’s guide says an interconnected VoIP provider’s OCN must be associated with the NECA category type IPES, for Internet Protocol Enabled Services, before the provider can apply for numbering resources. Koda’s OCN 583H is an IPES code, which lines up with Koda Voice’s registration with the FCC and USAC as an interconnected and non-interconnected VoIP provider.

What is an OCN used for?

An OCN is used wherever an industry system needs to name a provider without ambiguity. Three uses matter most to a buyer or a vetting analyst.

1. Numbering resources. NANPA’s guide states that an interconnected VoIP provider must hold an OCN in order to apply for numbering resources. A provider without one cannot hold telephone numbers in its own name and obtains them through another carrier. Koda provisions local numbers and ports existing numbers.
2. The Robocall Mitigation Database. Under FCC rules, 47 CFR 64.6305(d)(4)(vii), a voice service provider’s RMD certification includes “the voice service provider’s OCN, if it has one.” The phrase “if it has one” is the tell: the FCC expects some filers to have no code of their own. How the database works is covered in what the Robocall Mitigation Database is.
3. STIR/SHAKEN. The STI-GA lists an OCN as one of three conditions for a Service Provider Code token. The next section covers that rule.

Why does an OCN matter for STIR/SHAKEN?

An OCN is one of three conditions the STI-GA sets before a provider may sign calls under its own identity. STIR/SHAKEN signing needs a Service Provider Code (SPC) token from the STI Policy Administrator (STI-PA), plus a certificate from an approved STI Certification Authority. In the United States the STI-PA is iconectiv, selected by the STI-GA under a contract announced by ATIS in August 2019.

The STI-GA’s SPC Token Access Policy (Policy Decision 001) says the STI-PA clears an entity for STI certificates only if it meets all three of the following:

1. A current FCC Form 499-A on file, or proof of payment of the annual Responsible Organization (Resp Org) fee.
2. An assigned Operating Company Number, or a Resp Org ID.
3. A certification with the FCC that it has implemented STIR/SHAKEN or complies with the Robocall Mitigation Program requirements, with a listing in the FCC database.

The same three criteria appear unchanged in the STI-GA’s Policy Decisions Binder v10.1 of June 24, 2026.

The practical consequence is simple. A voice provider with no OCN cannot hold its own SPC token (the policy’s only alternative, a Resp Org ID, is for toll-free Responsible Organizations), so any STIR/SHAKEN signature on its calls belongs to another carrier. The attestation level on those calls is then decided by that carrier’s relationship with the provider, not by the provider’s own knowledge of its customers; the attestation levels A, B and C explain what each level requires. How Koda signs calls is described on the STIR/SHAKEN page.

How do you look up a company’s OCN?

An OCN lookup is a cross-check across three records, not a single search. Follow the steps in order.

1. Ask the provider for its OCN and its exact legal name. A carrier that holds a code states it without hesitation. Koda publishes 583H, with the issuing body and a verify link, in its Trust Center.
2. Ask for the NECA assignment record. NECA is the record of assignment, but it publishes no per-company public lookup. A carrier that holds a code can produce the assignment confirmation NECA issued; Koda supplies its record on request through the Trust Center.
3. Open the provider’s Robocall Mitigation Database entry. A voice service provider submits its OCN, if it has one, with its RMD certification under 47 CFR 64.6305(d)(4)(vii), so a current entry is the place to cross-check the code and the legal name. An entry can lag a newly assigned code until the provider files its next update. The legal name on the RMD entry, on the NECA record and on the website should be identical.
4. Match the OCN to the FRN and the Form 499 Filer ID. Search the FCC Commission Registration System (CORES) public lookup and the FCC Form 499 Filer Database for the same legal name and address. Three registries resolving to one entity is the test a carrier’s vetting team runs.
5. Treat third-party lookup sites as a starting point. Several websites offer OCN lookups, some by telephone number. They are useful for a first pass. They are not the record. Confirm anything they show against NECA or the RMD before relying on it.

How is an OCN different from an FRN or a Form 499 Filer ID?

An OCN, an FCC Registration Number and a Form 499 Filer ID are three different identifiers from three different bodies, and a licensed carrier holds all three under one legal name.

Each identifier answers a different question. The FRN says the entity is registered with the FCC. The Filer ID says the entity files the revenue worksheets behind Universal Service Fund contributions. The OCN says the entity is recognized as a provider by the industry’s own systems. Koda Voice’s three are FRN 0038517058, Form 499 Filer ID 839032 and OCN 583H, and all three resolve to Koda Voice LLC.

Does a provider without its own OCN resell?

A provider that cannot show an OCN of its own is using another carrier’s numbering and signing credentials, whatever the brand on the invoice. The reasoning follows from the rules above. Without an OCN, a provider cannot apply for numbering resources in its own name, so its telephone numbers belong to another carrier’s inventory. Without an OCN or a Resp Org ID, it cannot hold its own SPC token, so its calls are signed under another carrier’s certificate. Numbers and signatures are two of the things a voice carrier is accountable for, and both are borrowed.

Reselling is not improper. Many good services are built on top of a carrier. The question is who is accountable when a number is flagged, a traceback request arrives or a route fails. A buyer should know the answer before signing, and a carrier’s vetting team will ask it before routing anything. The full set of checks, from FRN to RMD listing, is in how to verify a VoIP carrier; the same review from the customer’s side is in carrier KYC: what to expect.

How this applies to Koda Voice

OCN 583H · NECA · IPES

Koda Voice LLC holds OCN 583H, assigned by NECA on September 1, 2026, in the IPES category. One week later, on September 8, 2026, the STI Policy Administrator authorized Koda Voice as a STIR/SHAKEN service provider with Service Provider Code 583H, and an approved STI Certification Authority issued Koda’s STI certificate. That sequence is the STI-GA policy above working as designed: the OCN was the last of the three conditions to land, and the STI-PA authorization followed.

Calls originated on Koda’s network are signed under Koda’s own Service Provider Code (583H), not a reseller’s certificate. Attestation level follows the STIR/SHAKEN framework: A when the customer is verified and authorized to use the number, B when the customer is verified but number authorization cannot be confirmed, C otherwise.

The OCN sits alongside Koda’s other identifiers: FRN 0038517058, USAC Form 499 Filer ID 839032 and a listing in the FCC Robocall Mitigation Database since July 27, 2026. That RMD filing predates the OCN and will show 583H after Koda’s next update; until then the NECA assignment record is available from compliance@kodavoice.com. Every one of them is published in the Trust Center with a link to the registry that issued it, so a buyer or a vetting analyst can run the lookup above against Koda without asking us first.