Wireline, Wireless Clash on Shortened Shot Clock for Number Porting
Wireline carriers sounded alarms over an FCC proposal to shrink the number porting shot clock for completing wireline- to-wireline and intermodal number requests to 48 hours from four days. MetroPCS and one state regulator said the time interval could be shorter still. The proposal is part of a further notice to an order mandating that carriers use four validation fields in porting requests.
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A 48-hour interval is “too aggressive a time frame” unless the FCC clarifies that the clock starts ticking during business hours and when an old carrier gets a porting request, said One Communications. The FCC should study “the entire porting process and not simply focus on the end result,” the CLEC said. Verizon Wireless also opposes the shorter interval. The FCC should focus on enforcing the problematic four-day interval before shortening it, it said.
There’s “no justification” to change the rule for rural ILECs, which have “unique operating conditions,” said the Organization for the Promotion and Advancement of Small Telecom Companies (OPASTCO) and the Western Telecommunications Alliance in joint comments. RLECs lack automated porting systems because they “serve sparsely populated markets” and “experience few, if any, port requests.” In a separate filing, the Independent Telephone & Telecommunications Alliance urged the FCC to make exceptions for carriers facing “unnecessary financial hardship and administrative burdens” if they had to speed up porting.
MetroPCS called 48 hours too long. The wireless industry self-set standard for wireless-to-wireless porting is 2.5 hours, it said. For intermodal ports, the FCC should start with 48 hours, but reduce the interval every six months so that it’s the same at the end of 24 months, the wireless carrier said.
State regulators backed a briefer timeframe. The Ohio Public Utilities Commission deemed 48 hours appropriate. The Connecticut Public Utility Control department endorsed 48 hours, urging the FCC to review the interval “at a later date” and consider reducing it to one business day.
If the 48-hour schedule is approved, the FCC should give carriers “at least” 12 months to comply with the faster time frame, One said. MetroPCS disagreed, saying the rule should take effect immediately.
Wireline and wireless disagreed on whether they should have to provide public notice when their porting policies change. MetroPCS supported the rule, saying “changes should take place in a transparent manner to avoid unnecessary delays.” One said the rule would be “far too constricting.”
One Communications also critiqued the order preceding the FCC’s further notice. Four fields don’t give enough material to complete a porting request, it said in comments Verizon is expected to echo. MetroPCS said the FCC could require fewer fields. “ZIP codes are not necessary and may lead to errors when multiple ZIP codes serve a single metropolitan area.”