WASHINGTON-Nov. 24 is the day for wireless local number portability, and carriers need to be technically capable of porting numbers on that day, or they face enforcement action, said FCC Chairman Michael Powell.
The Federal Communications Commission will give the industry the guidance it says it needs to successfully deploy WLNP, said Powell, noting the FCC has a duty to give that guidance. He did not mention a timeframe for the guidance, however.
Powell hinted that the guidance will include the amount of time it should take to complete the porting of a number, and once that porting interval is established, carriers will be expected to meet that timeframe. The wireline industry takes three to four days to complete a port, while some in the wireless industry have suggested an interval of 2.5 hours.
Powell made his statements during a press breakfast where he said he was setting his agenda and reiterated that he is not planning to retire. He called his agenda the “out with the old and in with the new.”
Wireless highlights of the agenda include spectrum for unlicensed services, a broadcast flag for digital content and a resolution to the interference problem public safety suffers in the 800 MHz band.
“The 800 MHz issue is vital, and it is at the top of our list,” said Powell. Later in response to a question, Powell seemed to back away from a straight rebanding solution and said that both the FCC’s Office of Engineering and Technology and the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau are working together to craft an answer to the problem.
