FCC agreed to voluntary unassigned number porting (UNP) trial pro...

national UNP. Trial would provide data to help determine likelihood that UNP could succeed as national number resource optimization measure and allow agency to determine whether UNP should be used to complement other measures such as thousand-block number pooling. Letter listed 16 reporting requirements to provide FCC sufficient detail before implementation and during UNP trial. Only data Commission has to date came from UNP trial involving WorldCom and Focal Communications. Companies urged FCC in March 2000 at completion of trial to require carriers to respond to UPN requests when: (1) Service provider’s customer wants specific number of numbers belonging to another service provider. (2) Service provider needs to establish footprint in particular area. WorldCom and Focal concluded UNP trial was successful because customers received numbers requested and providers were able to establish footprint presence within particular rate centers. FCC at time recognized UNP wasn’t sufficiently developed for adoption as nationwide number resource optimization measure and decided not to mandate UNP. Commission expressed concern about impact UNP might have on: (1) Carrier’s ability to control its own number inventories and to forecast future numbering needs. (2) Carrier’s switching systems and mapping logic of operations support systems if UNP measure resulted in significant number porting.