WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is likely to require wireline carriers to port customers’ telephone numbers to wireless carriers even if the wireless carrier does not have a switch in the wireline carrier’s rate center.
Both a fact sheet released by the FCC Tuesday and comments made by FCC Commissioner Kathleen Abernathy Wednesday morning point to a wireless win in this debate.
Abernathy said that she favors requiring the intermodal porting because it would benefit consumers and that is the point of the local number portability rules.
“The whole LNP requirement is to benefit consumers,” Abernathy told reporters during a press breakfast. “You should satisfy the customer desire.”
Wireline carriers have complained that it is not fair to make them port outside a rate center-a geographic distinction used to determine the amount to charge for completing a call. Currently, wireline carriers do not port outside rate centers because this is considered geographic porting. The confusion occurred when the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association pointed out earlier this year that if the FCC does not allow out-of-rate-center porting, only one in eight customers would be eligible to cut the cord.
Abernathy questioned, however, how many cord cutters there would be compared with those wireless customers just wishing to switch providers. Wireless-to-wireless porting is “where most of the customer demand seems to be,” she said.
According to Abernathy, the FCC is looking to require out-of-rate-center porting as long as the area code remains the same and the wireless carrier’s service area covers the rate center.
Under these rules-which are expected to released as soon as this Friday but would be effective Nov. 24-a wireline customer could cut the cord and take his number to a wireless carrier serving his house, but the wireline customer could not take his number to a wireless carrier serving a different area of the country.
What is not likely to be included is the tricky question of toll charges that some wireline carriers may try to charge if a call is delivered to a number that formerly would have incurred charges but now does not because it is within a wireless carrier’s local calling area. This issue impacts some of the edge areas of the largest metropolitan service areas, but is more prevalent in rural areas.