WASHINGTON-Members of the House Commerce Committee last month urged the Federal Communications Commission to delay or eliminate the requirement that commercial mobile radio service providers implement local number portability (LNP) next year.
The letter signed by 22 members supports a petition filed late last year by the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association to delay the implementation of LNP until at least 2004. LNP allows customers to keep their telephone numbers when switching service providers.
The representatives, including Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the telecommunications subcommittee, and Rep. John Dingell (D-Mich.), senior member of the House and ranking minority member of the Commerce Committee, believe the costs of implementing LNP outweigh the benefits to competition, according to the letter sent April 30.
CTIA has two requests regarding local number portability before the FCC. The first would delay LNP implementation for nine months until after 2000. The second would delay implementation for at least five years at which time the FCC would re-evaluate the competitive market to see if LNP is necessary for competition.
Both requests are predicated on the belief that CMRS is different than wireline service and therefore should not be subject to the same competitive rules. Local exchange carriers currently are implementing local number portability in five phases based on metropolitan statistical areas.
Chairman Tauzin’s endorsement of CTIA’s position was seen by some FCC insiders as a contradiction to earlier claims he made that personal communications services is a viable competitor to wireline service in Louisiana. The PCS industry “is still in its infancy,” the letter states. Tauzin’s spokesman said there is no contradiction, and while Tauzin believes PCS is viable in Louisiana, it may not be viable in other parts of the country. The FCC said in a recent ruling regarding BellSouth Corp.’s application to offer long-distance service in Louisiana that CMRS is not yet competitive to wireline telephony.
The FCC originally thought that LNP would be a competitive advantage for CMRS providers, but wireless carrier executives claim the cost associated with implementing LNP is not commensurate with its benefits, CTIA said in its forbearance petition filed Dec. 16.
The FCC has not scheduled imminent action on CMRS local number portability. Indeed, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau is still reviewing the CTIA petitions, FCC sources said last week.
LNP is considered a discretionary item because the deadline for deciding is not imminent. Discretionary items are not receiving the level of attention of required reports, FCC sources said.
