Following years of political wrangling and months of preparation, the telecom industry is finally offering customers the chance to keep their telephone number if they decide to switch to another wireline or wireless provider.
According to analysts’ forecasts, anywhere from 6 to tens of millions of wireless and wireline customers are expected to flood retail outlets, recently installed call centers and Web sites over the next several months looking to take their phone number to another operator-or at least use the threat of moving to glean a better deal from their current provider.
In preparation for the Nov. 24 Federal Communications Commission mandate, both wireline and wireless carriers have been busy over the past weeks with announcements that they hope will leave them as one of the winners of the migration option or at least dampen potential losses.
Last week alone witnessed countless press releases from many of the major wireless and wireline providers claiming their preparedness, and in some cases disdain, for LNP. A number of those announcements included last-minute service-level agreements designed to smooth the porting process between operators.
While SLAs, which are not required by the FCC for porting, are seen by some as a step in the right direction in easing porting issues, others warn they are not guarantees that carriers are prepared.
“There has been a lack of testing between carriers,” explained Maggie Lee, senior technical solutions manager at Verisign Telecommunications Services. “There are still issues around differences in interfaces and in how to deal with problems that will crop up.”
A number of wireless carriers speaking at a recent UBS Warburg investor conference in New York lent credence to Lee’s concerns, noting despite the hundreds of millions of dollars spent in preparation for LNP, there will still be glitches.
“Many of the carriers voiced concerns about other operators’ readiness to handle the porting process,” UBS Warburg noted in a post-conference research paper. “Moreover, many carriers expect the first couple of months of LNP to be a bit rough.”
In addition to technical issues, many have questioned how prepared retail store employees are in handling potential LNP glitches, noting those employees likely will feel the brunt of any porting problems.
“I don’t think the systems are ready and I don’t think the front-line people are prepared to handle the process,” Lee added.
A number of carriers increased their LNP training programs to prepare for the potential onslaught, but retailers are hoping for the best while preparing for the worst.
Kevin Sinclair, president and chief operating officer for Verizon Wireless exclusive agent Wireless Zone, said that while he feels Verizon Wireless has done a good job preparing retailers for LNP and that he expects few problems, he has warned a number of customers to hold off on porting until the bugs can be worked out of the system. “We have had customers coming into stores since July asking about LNP, and we are telling them to give us at least a week after Nov. 24 to work through the process. We tell them they are better off letting other people be the guinea pigs.”
Sinclair added that most of the 200 Wireless Zone outlets along the East Coast have bulked up for LNP with an additional 30 percent more product than they would typically have this time of the year as well as additional employees to handle the increased traffic.
One New York-area dealer said he has been telling customers intent on switching carriers Nov. 24 to come into the store before the deadline to fill out all the paperwork.
While many dealers are prepared for LNP, Wireless Zone’s Sinclair noted the mandate could affect how wireless carriers deal with independent agents in the future, noting exclusive agents could prove more appealing as they would be less likely to persuade a customer to switch carriers than a multi-carrier dealer.
“This could be an industry-changing event for retailers,” Sinclair warned.
