Subject: [NEXTEL-1] FCC CLEARS WAY FOR LOCAL NUMBER PORTABILITY BETWEEN WIRELINE AND WIRELESS CARRIERS

From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2003 20:04:19 -0500

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE      NEWS MEDIA CONTACT:
November 10, 2003 Chelsea Fallon at (202) 418-7991

FCC CLEARS WAY FOR LOCAL NUMBER PORTABILITY BETWEEN WIRELINE AND
WIRELESS CARRIERS

Washington, D.C. – The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today
reaffirmed that wireline carriers must port numbers to wireless carriers
under its current rules.  The Order provides guidance to the wireless
and wireline industries on issues related to “intermodal” local number
portability (LNP), i.e., the ability of customers to switch from a
wireline carrier to a wireless carrier, or from a wireless to a wireline
carrier, without changing telephone numbers.  In a Memorandum Opinion
and Order (Order) and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (Further
Notice), the FCC clarified that porting from a wireline carrier to a
wireless carrier is required where the requesting wireless carrier’s
coverage area overlaps the geographic location in which the wireline
number is provisioned, including cases where the wireless carrier does
not have a point of interconnection or numbering resources in the rate
center to which the phone number is assigned.  The FCC also sought
comment on how to facilitate wireless-to-wireline porting in cases where
the rate center associated with the wireless number is different from
the rate center in which the wireline carrier seeks to serve the
customer.  Finally, the FCC sought comment on whether to reduce the
duration of the porting interval for ports between wireline and wireless
carriers.

Today’s order follows up on a prior order released by the FCC on October
7, 2003, that addressed similar issues with respect to the
implementation of wireless-to-wireless LNP.  Under Commission rules,
wireless carriers in the 100 largest metropolitan statistical areas
(MSAs) must begin supporting LNP on November 24, 2003, which will enable
consumers to begin both wireless-to-wireless and intermodal porting in
those markets.   A list of these MSAs can be found on the FCC’s website
at http://hraunfoss.fcc.gov/edocs_public/attachmatch/DOC-240702A3.pdf.

A “rate center” is the geographic area served by a wireline carrier’s
central office switch, and is used to determine the rating of calls to
and from that switch as local or toll calls.  Blocks of telephone
numbers used by both wireline and wireless carriers are assigned to
particular rate centers.  However, while wireline local exchange
carriers (LECs) have numbering resources in most rate centers, wireless
carriers, because of the nature of their networks, typically do not, but
instead serve customers over a wider geographic area from a single rate
center in that area.

Today’s Order requires wireline carriers to port phone numbers to
wireless carriers in cases where the wireless carrier’s coverage area –
the area in which wireless service can be received from that carrier  –
overlaps the rate center in which the wireline phone number is assigned,
provided that the wireless carrier maintains the number’s original rate
center designation following the port.

Wireline carriers operating in the 100 largest MSAs must support
wireline-to-wireless number porting in accordance with today’s order by
November 24, 2003, unless they can demonstrate that complying with these
requirements would be technically infeasible.  Wireline carriers
operating outside the 100 largest MSAs are not required to comply with
the order until May 24, 2004, which is the earliest date that wireless
carriers serving these areas are required to implement LNP.

The Order also clarifies that wireless carriers do not need to negotiate
interconnection agreements with wireline carriers solely for the purpose
of porting numbers.  In cases where parties are unable to reach an
agreement on porting terms, the FCC requires that carriers port numbers
upon request and receipt of appropriate technical information, with no
conditions.

Regarding the length of time it will take to port a number from a
wireline to a wireless phone, the FCC has not adopted a mandatory
porting interval in today’s order, but is instead seeking comment on
this issue.  Wireline carriers are currently required to port numbers to
other carriers within four business days, and the FCC asks whether this
interval should be reduced.  The Further Notice also seeks comment on
issues related to wireless-to-wireline porting, such as the technical
and regulatory obstacles associated with wireless-to-wireline porting
when the rate center associated with the wireless number and the rate
center in which the wireline carrier seeks to serve the customer do not
match.

Action by the Commission, November 7, 2003, by Memorandum Opinion and
Order and Further Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (FCC 03-284).  Chairman
Powell, Commissioners Abernathy, Copps, Martin, and Adelstein, with
separate statements issued by Chairman Powell, Commissioners Abernathy,
Copps, Martin, and Adelstein.

FCC Contact:  Jennifer Salhus, (202) 418-2823, email:
[email-masked].

CC Docket No. 95-116

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