ARCHIVED - Telecom Commission Letter - 8620-C12-200601288
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LetterFile No.: 8620-C12-200601288 Ottawa, 15 January 2007 By Email All Carriers Re: Wireless Number Portability Implementation - First Port Notification and LRN Testing for Bulk Porting In Telecom Decision CTRC 2005-72 the Commission directed the Canadian telecommunications industry to implement and support the introduction of wireless number portability (WNP) in Canada. 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, CLECs, IXCs and potentially SILECs. 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 the porting out of their telephone numbers all across Canada and the porting in of telephone numbers in British Columbia , Alberta , Ontario and Quebec . The porting in of telephone numbers is to commence in all the remaining locations in Canada no later than 12 September 2007 , although it is expected that it will be implemented in most parts of Canada on 14 March 2007 . In Telecom Decision CRTC 2006-28, the Commission determined 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 developed processes and procedures to support the implementation of WNP and submitted these reports to the Commission for approval. Specifically:
In Telecom Decision CRTC 2006-74 the Commission approved the reports submitted by the three working groups and the contents of these reports is now binding on the entire telecommunications industry. The BPWG has submitted a second report, providing further details for the bulk porting process. It is anticipated that this report will be approved by the Commission in the near future. Commission staff strongly urges all telecommunications service providers to become familiar with the processes and procedures developed by the 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 implemented. First Port Notification Staff notes the normal industry process for the commencement of porting is for carriers to complete their network translations after the first port notification has been received. However, given the very large volume of telephone numbers to be bulk ported (in excess of 3 million telephone numbers) and the very short time period prior to 14 March 2007, the BPWG has recommended in its second report that, in addition to the standard industry notification process, an industry-wide notice process be used to ensure that sufficient advance notice of the impending bulk porting is communicated to all concerned parties. In order to facilitate the porting of leased wireless numbers prior to WNP implementation, it was agreed by the participants in the BPWG that the translations work usually performed following the first port notification will now be completed prior to the bulk porting start date. The portable CO codes identified in the Shared NXX First Port Notification file, available at http://www.crtc.gc.ca/cisc/eng/wireless.htm , will need to trigger an LNP query by the date identified as "effective date for dB dip" in the file. All Telecommunications Service Providers (LECs, WSPs, and IXCs) are required to ensure that all necessary translations are in place and applied accordingly. LRN Testing Staff further advises all carriers that testing of LRN routing should also be completed prior to the commencement of bulk porting. The LRN test calls will verify that the carrier networks are properly querying for shared NXX related traffic, and also ensure that translations for WSP CO Codes are opened in switching and SS7 networks. Additional information regarding the Bulk Porting LRN Routing Test Cases can be found at http://www.crtc.gc.ca/cisc/eng/wireless.htm. Commission staff is confident 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 of the view that this will happen so long as all telecommunications service providers commit the properly trained resources to this significant change in the telecommunications industry. Sincerely,
Fiona Gilfillan
cc: Bill Mason |
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