On May 26, JSI informed clients that the FCC had released an order in which it reduced the time allowed for companies to complete "simple" wireline and intermodal ports from four days to one business day.  To implement its ruling, the FCC charged the North American Numbering Council (NANC) with developing revised local number portability (LNP) provisioning process flows to reflect the one-business-day interval.  The FCC requested that NANC submit the revised guidelines within 90 days after the order's effective date, and on Nov. 2, NANC submitted its LNP provisioning process flows to the FCC.  JSI calls attention to some of the details of the revised process.  JSI offers additional analysis of NANC's revisions for clients on MyJSI, the clients-only section of our website.

The NANC submission establishes two compliance deadlines - one for large carriers and the other for small providers.  According to the FCC's order, large carriers must be compliant within nine months from the date that NANC submits its revisions, and small providers within 15 months of the submission.  For purposes of the order, "small providers" include all those with fewer than two percent of the nation's subscriber lines installed in the aggregate nationwide; thus, all JSI wireline clients.  The small-provider classification also includes all "Tier III" wireless carriers.

JSI notes that the compliance dates contained in NANC's submission specify a slightly different timeframe from that which would have been set by the timetable set forth in the FCC's order.  Accordingly, until such time that the FCC offers clarification, JSI recommends that clients prepare to meet the timeframes specified in NANC's submission: July 31, 2010, for large carriers, and Jan. 31, 2011, for small providers.

To assist clients with questions regarding NANC's revised provisioning process flows and the FCC's order, JSI plans to schedule webinars in the upcoming months that detail the new requirements and the potential impact on internal LNP processes.  If you have immediate questions or would like more information about JSI's assistance with LNP issues, you should call Karen Hoffman (khoffman@jsitel.com) or Bridget Alexander (balexander@jsitel.com), in JSI's Maryland office, at 301-459-7590.