CTIA reiterated concerns about threat that Nov. 24 wireless local...

Senior Vp-Gen. Counsel Michael Altschul said group had “serious concerns” about ability of Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) to handle volume of number ports that would result when wireless LNP was implemented. Verizon Wireless had asked FCC to forbear on Nov. 24 wireless LNP implementation deadline, same date as pooling deadline for carriers. Other carriers are asking for at least delay in that date and Commission has yet to act on requests, although it appears that it’s moving toward granting at least some relief in timing, although not complete forbearance. Altschul said LNP Administration Working Group held emergency meeting Mon. on problems related to NPAC and agreed that issues should be “further explored” in meetings next month of N. American Numbering Council working groups and worked on jointly by carriers, vendors, NPAC. “CTIA urges the Commission to defer CMRS carriers’ deadline for implementing wireless number portability until the uncertainty about the capabilities of the NPAC system is resolved,” Altschul said. He pointed to deployment of NPAC software that would allow carrier requests for full thousand number blocks to be handled as single transaction, rather than as 1,000 individual transactions. CTIA said that software would be fully available in June -- 3 months after national rollout of number pooling begins for wireline carriers. Concern of wireline and wireless carriers is that wireless volumes could overwhelm “NPAC resources and ultimately cause customer service outages.”