CTIA told the FCC Wireless Bureau late last week that July 3 guid...

to clarify several issues on wireless LNP implementation, seeking answers by Labor Day to allow time in advance of a Nov. 24 deadline on wireless LNP. The U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., last month turned down a wireless industry challenge to the FCC’s decision to retain the LNP requirement on wireless providers, keeping the Nov. 24 deadline intact (CD June 9 p1). Responding to requests for guidance, Muleta said this month that carriers wouldn’t be held liable for 911 callbacks that got lost during the porting period, citing the “mixed service” period during which a customer porting a number between wireless and wireline service might not have the correct callback number listed for a 911 operator. Muleta urged carriers to inform subscribers about the potential problem. CTIA Pres. Tom Wheeler wrote to Muleta Fri. that “threshold implementation issues remain unaddressed.” On 911, he wrote: “Consumers with every right to expect full 911 capability will discover they fall into a ‘no man’s land’ while they await their number to be ported -- a situation that can last for several days.” In other areas, Muleta had said he agreed with Verizon Wireless that there must not be a porting delay beyond customer validation requirements, meaning issues such as outstanding balances on a subscriber’s bill shouldn’t hold up the transfer of a phone number. Muleta had said other issues on which the industry sought implementation guidance were limited in scope and would be resolved before the Nov. 24 deadline. Among the issues that remain to be addressed are how to handle a wireline customer who ports to a wireless carrier without a rate center presence in the customer’s wireline rate center. Wheeler cited that as an example of an issue that required a faster FCC answer. “An issue that will prevent upwards of 90% of wired customers from taking advantage of competitive wireless services is not a matter of ‘limited scope,'” Wheeler said. He said that without FCC action, “the random uncertainties” involved in the rate center issue would leave consumers in the dark whether a particular port request would be honored by their original carrier because such rate center information wasn’t “readily available.” Wheeler reminded Muleta that Labor Day was only 51 days away, underscoring the importance of FCC answers on other issues in advance of that date. “If the Commission delays, carriers and their customers will be misled, frustrated, angered and abused by the Commission’s failure to resolve critical LNP implementation issues the Commission has left unanswered for the past 6 years,” Wheeler said.