CTIA urges FCC not to mandate wireless LNP

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association is urging the Federal Communications Commission against a mandate for wireless local number portability (LNP).

“In the matter of wireless number portability you will shortly be asked to make a decision for wireless carriers to choose between funding a new regulatory mandate or funding continued improvement of the quality of wireless service and the expansion of competition,” CTIA President Tom Wheeler wrote in a recent letter to the FCC. “The choice is clear.”

In the letter, Wheeler cited cost issues and potential risks to number pooling among a handful of arguments against LNP, finally calling it “anti-consumer regulation.”