Iconectiv Says New LNPA System Working Well; Southeast Cutover Seen Successful So Far

“We are closely monitoring the situation, but so far, we are pleased that the first stage of the transition is going smoothly," emailed an FCC spokesman. Southeastern state commissions reported no problems but said they also continue to monitor the transition. Iconectiv last week voiced confidence the new system would work, though a few others were more cautious (see 1804060030).

Number Portability Administration Center services were "successfully transitioned" in the Southeast to iconectiv's NPAC, announced NAPM's transition oversight manager, PwC, Sunday at 11 a.m. CDT, after an hour delay. "This weekend’s successful transition was the result of the cross-industry collaboration between iconectiv and hundreds of government and private sector stakeholders,” iconectiv CEO Richard Jacowleff said in a release. It noted the Southeast is the largest of seven regions making the LNPA shift; the region covers Alabama, Florida, Georgia, most of Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The cutover "was highly orchestrated, super well-coordinated and worked like clock work," said Kathy Timko, iconectiv head of LNPA services. It was made on Sunday when porting volumes were low coming out of a regular weekly maintenance shutdown of NPAC operations Saturday night. The maintenance window was extended somewhat Sunday morning, NAPM said. "There were some connectivity problems and the cutover was delayed," emailed Mark Iannuzzi, president of TelNet WorldWide and a board member of the Cloud Communications Alliance.

Timko told us there were no glitches, just a lot of data to be processed. "We are fine-tuning our operations, as you might expect." Timko said the level of porting activity was ramping up to normal levels Monday: "We're seeing porting traffic that is consistent with what's seen in the Southeast this time of year, and it's going beautifully."

“We have not been advised of any significant issues in these early stages of the cutover," emailed Neustar. "We will continue to closely monitor system performance and consumer experience." If iconectiv gets through the normal load of a weekday, today, then it will certainly be a relief for all involved," emailed Michael Calabrese, director of the Wireless Future Program at New America's Open Technology Institute.

Iconectiv asked carriers to delay "mass update, mass porting" bulk orders for 24-48 hours, which will be processed using a different methodology, but it doesn't anticipate any problems, Timko said. The handoff can't be fully judged "until the system is under load as the industry resumes normal activity," Iannuzzi emailed. "We shall see how it goes this week, hoping for the best, and that it provides further confidence for the next regions." The Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Northeast are slated for May 6, and the Southwest, Western and West Coast for May 20, iconectiv said.

NAPM said it and Neustar "reached a privately negotiated agreement providing the US telecommunications industry with a way to revert back to Neustar's NPAC in the event a rollback of service becomes necessary." Timko told us, "The system is working really well and we don't need" a rollback. Neustar told us it "executed a 'restart agreement' with the NAPM which provides that, in the event of significant technical issues arising from the cutover, Neustar would restart NPAC operations in the Southeast region or subsequent regions." Noting a January exchange of fire in filings, NAPM entered a statement posted Monday in docket 09-109 to "correct the record" on Neustar's conduct and fitness to hold contracts based on the incumbent's "clarifications."

The Florida Public Service Commission hadn't received any LNP complaints, emailed Florida PSC Public Utilities Supervisor Greg Fogleman. “It’s our understanding that the industry has decided to voluntarily throttle down porting volumes for some period of time,” and “it may take a few days to a week to see if the iconectiv systems can handle regular porting volumes for this region.” A North Carolina Utilities Commission spokeswoman said she's "not aware of any problems from the transition." The transition went smoothly, a Georgia Public Service Commission spokesman said.

"No complaints were received from carriers this Sunday," Alabama Public Service Commission Utilities Services Division Director Darrell Baker said. The Alabama commission asked carriers for an update Monday, he said. Carrier technical issues seemed unlikely going into the transition, Baker said. “If there are problems the likely source will be number porting requests already in the system but not yet completed by cut-over,” he emailed. “There is a fear they could [be] dropped from the system.” Such issues may not surface until later this week, he said. The Alabama PSC had reminded carriers to prepare for the transition and warned about possible problems with in-progress ports in a March 6 letter: “Additionally, 9-1-1 agencies that query the NPAC to ensure the accuracy of their own databases could experience issues.”

“Consumers and competition depend on number portability, so CTIA is pleased to see that the first transition to a new local number portability database vendor proceeded successfully and as expected," Assistant Vice President Krista Witanowski said in a statement.