Today is the day – the FCC vote concerning whether to keep Neustar as the contract holder for Local Number Portability (LNP) or award the contract to Telcordia Technologies, a subsidiary of Ericsson, is happening.
Why should you care about this?
LNP is a very important part of telecommunications today. It’s how numbers get moved between providers, it’s how calls get to you, it’s how 911 knows where you are – so, just a little bit important. If you are looking for another reason that you should care: It has never been done before. Ever. Anywhere in the world. And we are talking about over 500 MILLION numbers. So, there is not an established process for this, there are no best practices for how to accomplish it while keeping the US telecommunications infrastructure running seamlessly. While lots of smart people will be working on the project in the event of a transfer, they will essentially be making it up as they go. The bottom line is that whether you love Neustar or hate them, the thought of a move of these numbers is causing a lot of concern in the telecommunications industry.
