CenturyLink has asked the FCC for permission to shut down its Call Event and Management Signaling Service (CEMSS), citing a lack of customers.
As a service that was delivered to carriers in the former Qwest territory, CenturyLink has set the last day it would offer CEMSS as June 1 or as soon thereafter as the necessary regulatory approvals can be obtained.
CenturyLink seeks the FCC’s authority to discontinue offering CEMSS in Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming.
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CEMSS was offered to wholesale carrier customers as a Basic Service Element under the Open Network Architecture (ONA) regime. The Enhanced Service Providers (ESPs) used it to provide enhanced services across CenturyLink’s local exchange network.
Specifically, CEMSS facilitated communications between an ESP’s application platform and CenturyLink’s Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN)-capable local switches.
CenturyLink said in an FCC filing (PDF) that it “has no customers for this service,” adding that at “the time of its introduction in 2007, CEMSS was classified as a Basic Service Element.”
CEMSS is just one of several services that CenturyLink is looking to shut down as it streamlines its service line following a flurry of acquisitions in recent years and as more customers migrate to IP-based services.
Previously, the service provider asked the FCC for permission to shut down several low-speed data and analog services in 24 states located in its predecessor company CenturyTel’s territories, citing a similar lack of demand as well as Frame Relay and ATM services.