FCC asks AT&T Wireless about phone number porting snags

Network World - The Federal Communications Commission this week sent a letter to AT&T Wireless Services Inc. requesting explanation for the problems it's having porting phone numbers to and from its network.
The Redmond, Wash.-based company is reportedly having the most trouble of any carrier in complying with the FCC's wireless number portability rules, which went into effect Nov. 24 and are designed to stimulate competition by enabling subscribers to change carriers but keep their wireless or landline phone numbers. To date, only about 250,000 subscriber porting requests have been made, according to market research firm Mobile Competency Inc.
Mobile Competency says half of those requests weren't completed, but published reports state that AT&T Wireless is having the most trouble of any carrier, with a 60% failure rate.
"As more consumers opt to port, it is critical that carriers' porting systems function properly," said John Muleta, head of the FCC's wireless bureau, in the letter to AT&T Wireless. The carrier has until Dec. 10 to describe the problems and what it's doing to fix them, according to the letter.
AT&T Wireless wasn't immediately available to comment.
Bob Egan, president and founder of Mobile Competency, said that unlike the year 2000 problem, carriers didn't prepare for the date-specific event of wireless number portability. As a result, a process that should, by FCC standards, take only two and a half hours is taking up to a week or longer, according to Egan.
"We didn't see any of that [preparation]," Egan said. "Carriers were not prepared, and third-party interconnect companies were not prepared."
Egan said the accuracy of subscription and billing data is an issue in whether a number port goes through. Information such as middle initials, titles and abbreviations have to appear exactly as they do on the subscriber's current account before a port is successful.
If a number port isn't complete, subscribers are stuck paying for two services -- the one they're trying to leave and the one they're trying to go to. "It's a mess," he said.
Egan also said there may be some "liar's poker" going on. Carriers may not want to encourage porting for fear of losing customers -- and revenue -- during the holiday season. "There's a critical fourth-quarter-revenue implication" at play, he said.
Indeed, customer churn costs money with or without number portability. According to RHK Inc., churn costs the industry $900 million to $1.3 billion per month. As a result, the major wireless carriers weren't publicizing portability for fear of losing customers, the market tracking firm said.
Instead,they've been offering attractive rates over longer periods to lock in subscribers, RHK found.
There's also an inherent cost to the subscriber in number portability. Customers wishing to change providers might also have to change handsets if the underlying technologies of the provider networks are different, RHK said.
The North American market uses at least four different wireless technologies -- Code Division Multiple Access, Time Division Multiple Access, Global System for Mobile Communications and iDEN, which is the foundation of Nextel Communications Inc.'s DirectConnect network.