Telcordia Critics Continue To Press FCC To Improve MSA, LNPA Transition

authority to oversee the master services agreement (MSA) negotiated by Telcordia (iconectiv) and North American Portability Management (NAPM) "at every stage and to review every aspect of the MSA prior to approving it," said the LNP Alliance and OTI's Wireless Future Program in a filing posted Tuesday in docket 09-109 summarizing a meeting with staffers of FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and the Wireline Bureau. The groups urged the FCC to address "the shortcomings of the LNPA Transition and to make improvements to all aspects" of the MSA. They noted their suggestions to: ensure the LNPA transition from Neustar to iconectiv incorporates and doesn't delay industry's IP transition; maintain a "neutral, independent and mandatory" Number Portability Center Administration Center (NPAC) for routing telecom services and porting numbers; alter NAPM's large-carrier membership; increase the transparency of the LNPA transition and its timeline; and make specific changes to the MSA, including by removing NAPM as the final arbiter of NPAC disputes. In a filing on a meeting with Commissioner Michael O'Rielly and an aide, the two groups cited concerns about a process that has left them "in a position where the MSA could be approved at any time" -- though LNP Alliance's counsel said recently some commissioner offices still had questions and didn't seem to be in a hurry (see 1606020050). The groups sought new MSA language to reinforce NPAC's mandate and "ensure third-party 'ENUM' [electronic number mapping] registries don't supplant the current neutral number porting system." They attached a draft national number portability report by an Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions committee that they said suggested number portability could be handled by multiple registries rather than a single entity. Telcordia didn't comment.