Due to the characteristics of radio frequencies, which do not obey the restrictions of national borders, it is necessary to have an international framework of spectrum allocation and thereby mitigate the risk of interference. At the highest level, this is done within the International Telecommunications Union which is an affiliated body of the UN. Countries, usually acting within large regional blocs, agree in the ITU the basic allocation of spectrum to specified services.
While the ITU sets out a very broad framework for spectrum use at a global level, and regional bodies may add a greater degree of specificity to that framework, it is still for the individual country, such as the Solomon Islands, to decide how it will ultimately allocate its spectrum, albeit that it should do so in line with its international commitments.
The National Band Plan is the depiction of national decisions on spectrum use.
The Commission allocates and assigns numbers and number ranges to service providers in accordance with a National Numbering Plan. Recognised providers may propose numbering plans to the Commission and, within reason, are relied on to self-regulate.
Service providers use the numbers and number ranges that are allocated and assigned to them by the Commission in accordance with the National Numbering Plan and are not allowed to use any numbers that are not assigned to them or to adopt any other private numbering arrangement that conflict with the National Numbering Plan.
Generally numbers are allocated to licensees in blocks of 1,000 geographic numbers or 10,000 mobile numbers each.
For more information on Numbering, consult Part 13 of the pdf Telecommunications Act (2009) (627 KB) .