Wireless local number portability will almost certainly provoke a plethora of questions and concerns from confused consumers, even if it does not trigger a flood of churning customers the day the calendar reads Nov. 24. Indeed, carrier customer service call center employees and retail store representatives are likely to be bogged down with inquiries regarding the new service-requiring carriers to prepare their networks and educate their employees on the upcoming mandate now.
Sprint said last week it is concentrating its efforts on making the process smooth for customers. The carrier is training thousands of sales and service specialists to assist with number porting. The company has also upgraded software, including software logic on network switches, data network elements and its voicemail system, to ensure WLNP compliance in its network.
Cingular Wireless too has bolstered its work force to deal with the pending mandate. In August, it announced it opened a new customer call center in Jacksonville, Fla. The call center will initially be manned by 80 new customer-care representative hires, but it has space for 400 representatives. The Jacksonville facility will be dedicated to WLNP, according to Jennifer Bowcock, Cingular spokesperson. The new center brings the total number of Cingular call centers to 23.
Verizon Wireless recently built a new call center in Murfreesboro, Tenn., to specialize in WLNP transactions. The company is recruiting 450 new employees for the center. The carrier also said it has upgraded its network, completed initial testing of new porting systems and evolved its billing capabilities.
Carriers are also upgrading their Web sites to assist the growing number of consumers who turn to the Web to address concerns with their wireless service. Sprint customers will be able to check the status of their number port from their handsets as well as at sprintpcs.com. The carrier will also make educational materials on WLNP available online and through Sprint retailers. Verizon launched an upgraded verizonwireless.com Web site in late August.
However, a recent study from predictive analytics firm Compete Inc. showed online information from competing wireless carriers will actually facilitate churn and could lead to a more than $3 billion revenue loss for the industry during the next 12 months.
According to Compete, approximately 10 million wireless customers use the Internet to manage their accounts, and more than 1 million of these customers exhibit pre-churn behavior, which includes evaluating carrier competitors online for future purchases. Compete expects 25 percent of online customers will exhibit pre-churn behavior to switch carriers in the coming months, following the implementation of WLNP.
The WLNP mandate will also require the ever-competitive wireless carriers to work together to satisfy customer needs. Nextel and Sprint PCS last week announced a service-level agreement (SLA) for porting phone numbers between non-affiliated carriers in preparation for the deadline.
The SLA is a contractual agreement between service providers intended to result in quick, easy, consumer-friendly number porting between carriers. Both Nextel and Sprint said that they continue to pursue similar SLAs with other wireless and wireline providers.
Sprint and Nextel said that they continue to look to the Federal Communications Commission for industry standards on WLNP technical and timing issues and urged other carriers to actively negotiate and work to standardize processes in advance of the deadline in the absence of FCC guidance.
