ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter - 8620-C12-200601288

Letter

Our File No.:   8620-C12-200601288

Ottawa, 9 August 2006

By Email

Wireless Carriers and Local Exchange Carriers

Re:     Wireless Number Portability Implementation

Dear Sir/Madam:

The Commission has recently directed the Canadian telecommunications industry to implement and support the introduction of wireless number portability in Canada [1] .   Wireless number portability will involve porting activities between wireless and wireline carriers and will have an effect on all telecommunications service providers, including wireless carriers, ILECs, SILECs, and CLECs. Commission staff wishes to ensure that all telecommunications service providers are taking appropriate measures to ensure that wireless number portability launches successfully.

On 14 March 2007 , wireless carriers are to commence porting out of their telephone numbers across Canada and porting in of telephone numbers in British Columbia , Alberta , Ontario and Quebec . The porting in of telephone numbers is to commence in all other locations across Canada by no later than 12 September 2007 , although it is expected it will be implemented in most parts of Canada on 14 March 2007 .

Wireless carriers that provide wireless services in areas where local number portability is or will be in place must become shareholders of the Canadian Local Number Portability Consortium (CLNPC). Further, arrangements must be made with the Number Portability Administration Centre (NPAC) vendor in order to support, at a minimum, the porting out of numbers by the start of wireless number porting. Commission staff has been informed that a few wireless carriers have yet to join the CLNPC and urges them to do so immediately.

In a further decision [2] , the Commission ruled on a number of wireless number portability issues that were not dealt with in Decision 2005-72. The Commission determined, amongst other things, that wireless carriers could utilize a single location routing number for a single point of interconnection in incumbent local calling areas for the routing of calls to ported numbers, that partial number blocks obtained from other carriers should be "bulk ported" to the leasing wireless carrier, and that the industry should develop a roll out schedule for exchanges to become number portability capable based on wireless service providers requirements. In accordance, with Commission directives, several CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee (CISC) working groups are now working on processes and procedures that once completed and approved by the Commission will be binding on the entire telecommunications industry.

The specific CISC working groups are the Business Process Working Group (BPWG), the Network Working Group (NTWG) and the Canadian Steering Committee on Numbering (CSCN). The working groups' activities are:

•  the BPWG is developing a process to be used for the bulk porting of partial number blocks before and after the launch of wireless number portability;

•  the NTWG is developing a roll out schedule for the introduction of number portability into exchanges in accordance with wireless carriers' requirements; and

•  the CSCN is updating the location routing number (LRN) in the Central Office (CO) Code Assignment Guidelines to incorporate LRNs for wireless carriers.

Commission staff strongly urges all telecommunications service providers to participate in these working group activities as the processes and procedures developed within these working groups could have a fundamental impact on each telecommunications service provider's business operations. Once these processes and procedures are in place, all telecommunications service providers will have no option but to comply with them.

Incumbent local exchange carriers , both large and small, will also be affected by wireless number portability in that some of their customer transfer processes may have to be altered or modified to accommodate the unique requirements of intermodal porting. Commission staff notes that the wireless carriers, in conjunction with other telecommunications industry participants have developed an extensive suite of test cases to be executed with all trading partners prior to the launch of wireless number portability. A portion of these test cases involve tests with all wireline companies.

Thus Commission staff urges all local exchanges carriers, including small LECs and CLECs that have not done so to date to become involved in the various CISC working groups so that they can fully understand the impacts that wireless number portability will have on them and what will be required of them as wireless number portability is first tested and then implemented.

For wireless carriers , Commission staff notes that the wireless industry's use of the Mobile Directory Number (MDN) as the Mobile Identification Number (MIN) will no longer be possible when wireless number portability goes into effect and the separation of the MIN from the MDN can affect the ability of customers to roam onto other wireless networks. In addition, MINs will now be administered and assigned by an MIN Block Identifiers Administrator requiring wireless carriers to apply to the MBI administrator for the assignment of MIN blocks. Commission staff notes that this and many other changes will have impacts on wireless carriers' operational and business support systems.

Further, the wireless industry has contracted for a clearinghouse function through which wireless porting activities will be conducted. The processes between the clearinghouse vendor and wireless carriers are now being developed by the industry. Once these processes are in place, carriers will be obligated to follow them. If non-participating carriers identify any unique requirements they may have after the processes and procedures have been developed, these carriers will be required to bring their systems into line with industry developed processes rather than have the processes and procedures changed to incorporate their requirements.

Wireless carriers will also need to enter into contractual arrangements with the clearinghouse vendor well in advance of the commencement of wireless number portability in order to ensure that carrier information is properly loaded into the carrier profiles and the appropriate resources are ordered and provisioned.

Thus, Commission staff strongly urges those wireless carriers that have not done so to date to participate in the development of the wireless porting processes as it is in the wireless carriers' best interests to do so.

Commission staff expects that all telecommunications service providers who will be impacted by wireless number portability will be ready by 14 March 2007 , so that wireless number portability launches smoothly with no service disruption to customers. Commission staff is confident that this will happen so long as all telecommunications service providers commit the proper attention and resources to this major change to the telecommunications industry.

Sincerely,

Paul M. Godin
Acting Director General
Competition, Costing and Tariffs
Telecommunications

cc: Bill Mason (819) 953-8882 bill.mason@crtc.gc.ca

[1] See Implementation of wireless number portability - Telecom Decision CRTC 2005-72, 20 December 2005

[2] Regulatory issues related to the implementation of wireless number portability - Follow up to Public notice 1006-3 Telecom Decision CRTC 2006-28, 18 May 2006 (Decision 2006-28)