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 primary responsibilities of the NPAC include:

•  Data Administration: Ported telephone number data administration, service provider network data administration and audit administration
•  Mass Changes: Area code (NPA) splits and LRN transfers
•  Billing and Cost Appointment

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.

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