Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Winstar Comm. (WCII) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Steven Bowen who wrote (3882)	2/20/1998 7:59:00 AM
From: indy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12468

Steve. Local number portability should help marketing effort of WCII and all other CLEC's. >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>. nwfusion.com Glitch stalls FCC numbering plan Local phone numbers portability may be delayed again by database problem. By David Rohde Network World, 2/16/98 A technical problem is threatening to delay yet again one of the key goals of telecommunications reform: the ability to change your local carrier without changing your telephone numbers. The North American Numbering Council (NANC) last month informed the Federal Communications Commission that "vendor failure to provide a stable platform to support local number portability" may affect the FCC's mandate to make phone numbers portable starting March 31. The NANC's letter to FCC Common Carrier Bureau Chief Richard Metzger did not specify the vendor. But NANC officials told Network World it is Perot Systems, Inc. Perot Systems is one of two local number portability database administrators, along with Lockheed Martin Corp., responsible for setting up databases of local phone numbers to identify which carriers hold which phone numbers. Today, users generally must change their phone numbers when they switch local exchange carriers because central office (CO) switches can only associate exchanges, or blocks of 10,000 numbers, with individual local carriers. The new FCC-ordered system is modeled after the one now used for 800 numbers, where users can port individual numbers to different carriers. A database lookup during call setup determines who carries the traffic. Heather Burnett Gold, president of the Association for Local Telecommunications Services and a member of NANC's local number portability steering committee, said the problem resides in Perot Systems' database software, though she could not elaborate. A Perot Systems spokesman did not return phone calls. The problem does not affect the entire country. Following the lead of carrier consortiums in each of the seven original Bell company regions, the FCC last year assigned Perot Systems to administer the database in three regions, while Lockheed Martin took the other four (see graphic). Dropping databases Greg Roberts, Lockheed Martin's director of number portability services, said Lockheed Martin's database has been tested and is working. Sources said the carrier groups in Perot Systems' regions may look to drop Perot Systems in favor of Lockheed Martin. "It's safe to say that the other carrier consortiums have contacted us," Roberts said. Even if they drop Perot Systems, the availability of number portability may be limited on the March 31 start date, which already was pushed back from the FCC's original Oct. 1, 1997 start date. Carriers have 15 months to roll out portability to the 100 largest metropolitan areas, with only seven cities - one in each original Bell region - required to be up on March 31. And the availability of the database does not necessarily mean CO switches will be able to access the data. According to Roberts, each carrier must build an electronic interface to the database based on the Telecommunications Management Network, a management protocol for carriers that uses the Common Management Information Protocol but has been slow to take off. Responding to NANC's alarm, the FCC said it may give carriers in the affected regions the opportunity to apply for a 60-day waiver from the impending portability requirement possibly until March 1.