A small team and I are working on this problem. We’ve recently announced a DNS-based protocol (1) to store structured data for domains, in time we hope to issue domain names for every telephone number (e.g. 44123456789.telephone). To claim a number you answer a call to that number.

It would enable us to store open data for phone numbers, making phone numbers something we can interrogate for IVR menu data before a call is made - helping navigate it automatically - it could also present caller ID when receiving a call. However, we’ve got _lots_ of work to do on this.

1. https://www.num.uk