The United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has by order implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (the "TCPA") prohibiting the initiation of telephone calls (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using automatic telephone dialing systems or an artificial or prerecorded voice to telephone numbers assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call.

The Intermodal Ported Telephone Number Service consists of two (2) files containing lists of intermodal ports of telephone numbers, segregated between wireline-to-wireless ports and wireless-to-wireline ports. These files are updated on a daily basis. Neustar provides access to the service via a password-secured Web site. Neustar is the sole entity authorized by the North American Portability Management LLC to provide the Intermodal Ported Telephone Number Service.

Anyone who desires to comply with the TCPA can register for the service.

The FCC orders implementing the TCPA provide for, among other things, fines of $11,000 per violation of the TCPA.

You may register directly with Neustar for the Intermodal Ported Telephone Number Service. Alternatively, you should seek an authorized reseller of Neustar's data, who can assist you with TCPA compliance.  Upon completion of the registration process, you will have chosen a user name and password and been assigned an account number. Your account number will be valid for a term of one (1) year, after which time you will need to reapply for the service.

Law Enforcement Agencies, Public Safety Providers and 911 Service Providers must register with Neustar for a PIN. The registration form is located at http://www.npac.com/the-npac/access/law-enforcement-agencies-psaps/ivr-system/ivr-registration.

The IVR number is 571-434-5781. If this number is unavailable, users may call 704-583-8311 to reach the Secondary IVR system.

Once your request is received, it can take up to 1-2 business days to establish a PIN.

Yes, the IVR for automated telephone number lookup is a free service offered to police, law enforcement, and public safety agencies.

The IVR system allows you to check up to 20 telephone numbers per call.

Neustar undergoes nine independent annual audits with respect to neutrality, privacy and security. All Neustar employees, board members and designated contractors are required to pass Quarterly Neutrality Certification.

Complaints must be submitted in writing and either hand delivered during normal business hours or mailed, by first-class mail, postage prepaid, to: Neutrality Officer Neustar, Inc. 46000 Center Oak Plaza Sterling, VA 20167.

The Neutrality Officer will answer any complaint in writing by providing a response within 30 calendar days from the time-stamped receipt of the complaint.

For more information on what the response will contain, refer to Section 300 of the Neustar Inc, Neutrality Requirements.

If Neustar is found to be in violation of the Neutrality agreement, the Neutrality Officer, in conjunction with the Neustar personnel involved in the alleged discrimination or favoritism and any other Neustar personnel that the Neutrality Officer designates, will develop an action plan to provide a remedy for the effects of such conduct, if any, and to prevent the recurrence of such conduct in the future. 

For more information on this topic, refer to Section 400 of the Neustar Inc., Neutrality Requirements.

The NPAC brings together eight regional LNP database systems across the U.S. and Canada.

The LNPA WG (Local Number Portability Administration Working Group) is a subcommittee of the NANC (North American Numbering Council), an advisory body to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission).  The LNPA WG was formed at the behest of the FCC to develop technical requirements for the centralized data base approach to local number portability.

Anyone can participate in the LNPA WG's meetings.  However, when the LNPA WG makes a decision, it is the entities subject to local number portability regulatory mandates that drive the discussion.

The LNPA WG is responsible for developing and recommending NPAC/SMS functionality requirements.  New requirements are documented in the form of Change Orders.  (The decision on whether to purchase a Change Order recommended by the LNPA WG is made by another body.)  The LNPA WG also serves as a clearing house for issues arising due to the introduction of local number portability through its Problem Investigation Process ("PIM").  In some cases, the LNPA WG resolves the problem; in others, the LNPA WG refers the problem to another industry committee for resolution.

The LNPA WG meets monthly, alternating between conference calls and face-to-face meetings.  The meeting location varies and may be anywhere in the United States.  Every year or so, an LNPA WG meeting is held in Canada.  A conference bridge is provided for all face-to-face meetings.

Please see Meeting Logistics for current meeting information.

Go to http://listserv.neustar.biz/mailman/listinfo/lnpa and follow the steps for subscribing to the LNPA WG mailing list.

For information on the FCC’s establishment of an LNPA, please visit the FCC website at www.fcc.gov and type in the Search criteria “98-233.” Click on the document entitled “FCC 98-233” and go to the “Local Number Portability” paragraph on page 7.

A company does not necessarily have to actively use the Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) in order to be charged for the service. Based on a mandate set by the FCC in 1997, all telecom companies are responsible for sharing in the cost of the LNP service.

For more specific explanations of exemptions, please see:

http://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form499-A/499a-2012.pdf

Once a year, every corporate customer of every telecommunications service nationwide is required to report end user revenue information on a 499A form and submit it to the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC). Neustar then uses this information to create the customer’s allocated percentage rate, the formula for which is the customer’s individual end user revenue information divided by the sum total of all end user revenues reported by all customers who have reported revenue in the same region as the individual customer.
 
All forms must be filled out in April of each year. A copy of the 499A form is available online at http://transition.fcc.gov/Forms/Form499-A/499a-2012.pdf

Contact USAC at 888-641-8722. Be sure to give them your company’s Filer ID#, as they will recognize your account by this number, and will work with you to correct your 499A information.

All LNP charges are generated based on the customer’s reported end user revenue on their most recent 499A form. All customers are charged their allocated portion for charges billed in the regions for which they have reported revenue.

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.

The first step is to contact Customer Connectivity Services Team, complete a Non-Disclosure Agreement, and an NPAC User Agreement. Customer Connectivity Services can be reached at cc@neustar.biz or 571-434-5434.