Telcordia, which has deployed its number portability solutions in 15 countries, says it will participate in the procurement process ordered by the Federal Communications Commission for the US Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC).
In response to Telcordia's petition, the FCC order calls for multiple vendors to compete to become Local Number Portability Administrators (LNPAs) to provide NPAC services. The process, as ordered, will include a request for information (RFI) and a request for proposal (RFP) issued by the FCC.
In 1997, in its Second Report and Order on Telephone Number Portability (FCC 97-289), the FCC required implementation of number portability enabling consumers to keep (or "port") their local phone number when switching from one telecommunications provider to another by naming two LNPAs to provide NPAC services on a regional basis. In that order the FCC noted, "there are clear advantages to having at least two experienced number portability database administrators that can compete with and substitute for each other, thereby promoting cost-effectiveness and reliability in the provision of Number Portability Administration Center services." However, when one of the selected LNPA vendors was unable to perform, implementation defaulted to the single remaining vendor, and many of the advantages of having multiple LNPAs were never realized.
Telcordia says it’s pleased that the FCC is proceeding with an open and transparent procurement process that will consider the advantages of having multiple LNPAs. This will ultimately benefit consumers and the overall telecommunications industry with competitive pricing, more innovative services and redundancy for what has become a mission-critical service, Telcordia said.
"We look forward to joining the open-bid process for number portability administration in the U.S.," said Richard Jacowleff, president of Telcordia Interconnection Solutions. "We are confident after completing the world's largest number portability implementation in India that Telcordia can immediately contribute to the process by sharing our considerable knowledge base and technology expertise in this area."
