Wireless number portability act gaining momentum?

WOULD YOU SWITCH phone companies if you could keep your current phone number? The Wireless Local Number Portability Act will let consumers keep their telephone numbers when they switch from a wired to a wireless carrier, or between wireless carriers, within a local area.

Virgin Mobile USA filed favorable comments with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). Virgin Mobile is one the few wireless carriers to express support for the act. Recently, a wireless industry association filed a petition with the FCC requesting that it clarify carrier obligations to provide wired-to-wireless local number portability. Some carriers have further asked the FCC to defer implementation of the act, and several carriers have asked the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to eliminate the rule entirely.

Local number portability is scheduled to go into effect on November 24, 2003. If the FCC delays implementation, it will be the third postponement. George Hallenbeck, CEO of Evolving Systems, a company that helps wired and wireless carriers implement the Number Portability Act, thinks it's unlikely the FCC will postpone again. "The carriers are spending a lot of money to get this into place. I don't think they'd be doing that if they thought there was a real possibility of another extension."

After the Number Portability Act is effective, the most common scenario is likely to be users wanting to move their wired home phone numbers to their mobile phones. Are wired carriers resisting this? They get a benefit, says Hallenbeck. "In exchange for implementing the Number Portability Act, the wired carriers got to offer long distance in their regions. You don't hear too much noise from wired carriers about this because they need to support the Number Portability Act in order to be in long distance."

Wired carriers dealt with the wired-to-wired number portability transition in 1998. However Hallenbeck believes they faced an easier task. "The wired carriers were able to start with a few telephone numbers, and it grew gradually from there. There's pent-up demand for this in the wireless market, so wireless carriers should expect a large number of transfers right off the bat."

Gartner analyst Phil Redmond agrees that the transition will not be an easy one for wireless carriers or their customers. "The customers are going to have to push this. They'll have to notify the carrier that they're leaving and want to take their number. Then, they'll have to fill out a form, and chances are good there will be a $25 to $50 fee to process that form. I doubt it will be free."