Local Number Portability is the ability to securely and cost-effectively interconnect to route phone calls and transfer customer telephone numbers among communication service providers. In other words, local number portability enables users to keep their existing telephone numbers and associated services when switching from one communications service provider to another. This is done based on information associated with the dialed telephone number instead of using the telephone number itself.

LNP is also a mechanism to change a telephone number's location from one point in the Public Switched Telephone Network to another. This is different from Call Forwarding in that with LNP, the original serving switch is not required to be involved in the call path.

From an FCC standpoint, LNP provides "...the ability of users of telecommunications services, to retain, at the same location, existing telephone numbers without impairment of quality, reliability, or convenience when switching from one communications service provider to another."

LNP was introduced to further increase competition in the local telephone service arena. Studies indicated increased consumer willingness to change communications service providers if their telephone numbers could be retained.

• LNP allows a consumer to keep their current telephone number (TN) when moving to another local communications service provider (both the old service provider and new service provider must be LNP-capable).  The service arrangement using the TN at the new SP is associated with same rate area as was the service arrangement at the old communications service provider.

• LNP allows a wireline communications service provider to offer services, such as foreign wire center (aka "soft FX"), through switch translations when the service offering formerly required physical extension of the customer's loop.

• LNP increases competition among local communications service providers.

LNP supports wireline, wireless and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) portability.

For those companies wishing to receive or connect to the Canadian database, the first step is to become a member of the Canadian Consortium. Please contact Marian Hearn, Project Executive, at 613-287-0225. After becoming a member of the Consortium, complete a Non-Disclosure Agreement, and an NPAC User Agreement. Customer Connectivity Services can be reached at cc@neustar.biz  or 571-434-5434 for assistance on completing the New Customer Registration forms.

If the company wishes to receive or connect to the U.S. databases, please contact iconectiv at 

NPAC@iconectiv.numberportability.com

In 1995 the telecommunications industry began to seriously investigate ways of providing Local Number Portability to expand competition within the local telephone service market place.  In 1995 and 1996, several states, notably Illinois and Maryland, began the process of officially selecting the architecture to be used for Local Number Portability in their respective states.

• After considerable discussion and deliberation, AT&T/Lucent Technologies' Location Routing Number (LRN) architecture was selected. ( The LRN method became the de facto industry standard and later was adopted by the Federal Communications Commission in 1997. )

• The Telecommunications Act of 1996, signed February 8, 1996, was the first major overhaul of telecommunications law in over 60 years. It provided a pro-competitive, de-regulatory national policy framework designed to open local telecommunications markets to competition.

• The FCC issued its First Report and Order (adopted June 27, 1996) in Docket 95-116 providing the regulatory framework for LNP.

• The Canadian Radio and Television Commission (CRTC) also adopted a regulatory framework for implementation of LNP throughout Canada.

The FCC First Report and Order specified proposed rules for the establishment of regional local number portability databases to implement LNP and specified the need for a neutral, third party administrator. The centralized database is referred to as the NPAC SMS, a system that manages the porting of telephone numbers from one local Service Provider to another. A neutral, third party administrator operates the Number Portability Administration Center and Service Management System NPAC SMS and provides a total solution for maintaining, administering, and operating the regional NPAC SMS

 In February 1996, the first of a series of RFPs was issued by carriers participating in state-sponsored LNP-workshops. The RFPs invited prospective vendors to submit a total solution and associated firm pricing proposal to provide an NPAC SMS to support the implementation of Local Number Portability.

Seven Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) were formed in the U.S., each corresponding to a former Bell Operating Company region. These LLCs were charged with selecting an NPAC vendor and contracting for the NPAC services. In Canada, an LNP Consortium was formed to perform the selection and management of an NPAC vendor.

Eight regional LNP databases were established, the seven U.S. databases coinciding with the seven original Regional Bell Operating Company regions and a single database to serve Canada. Lockheed-Martin Information Management Services ultimately became the NPAC vendor for all eight LLCs.

In November 1999, Lockheed-Martin IMS purchased a TSP provider and so was required under FCC neutrality rules to divest its NPAC business. An employee buyout formed a new company, NeuStar, to assume the NPAC vendor role.Neustar continues to be the LNP Administrator managing the NPAC for the Canadian Region.