Report No. DC 95-99                                         ACTION IN DOCKET CASE                 July 13, 1995
     
     
                     COMMISSION SEEKS COMMENT ON TELEPHONE
                               NUMBER PORTABILITY
                        (CC Docket No. 95-116; RM 8535)
     
          The Commission today continued its efforts to help promote the development
     of local telephone competition by initiating a proceeding to develop rules concerning
     telephone number portability -- the ability of individuals, businesses and organizations
     to take their telephone numbers with them when they switch to a new service provider
     or location or when they change the kind of service they receive.
     
          Number portability promotes competition between telecommunications service
     providers by allowing consumers to respond more readily to service and price
     differences among competing providers.  Number portability also promises significant
     public interest benefits by providing consumers with greater personal mobility and
     flexibility in the way they use telecommunications services.  
     
          The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, adopted today by the Commission,
     tentatively concludes that the portability of geographic telephone numbers (those with
     area codes that represent specific geographic areas) benefits consumers and will
     contribute to the development of competition among alternative providers of local
     telephone and other telecommunications services.  The NPRM seeks comment on
     these tentative conclusions and on other potential public interest benefits that number
     portability for geographic numbers would produce.
     
     
                                     (over)
          
                                          
          The NPRM also tentatively concludes that the Commission should assume a
     leadership role in developing a national number portability policy due to its impact on
     interstate telecommunications, and the NPRM seeks comment to determine the specific
     nature of this role.  The Commission recognized that state regulators also have
     legitimate interests in the development of number portability, and that they are
     developing valuable empirical evidence through technical trials and task forces.
     
          The NPRM recognizes that the Commission at this time lacks sufficient
     information on the costs (both monetary and nonmonetary) of making geographic
     telephone numbers portable among service providers, services, or locations.  It
     therefore seeks comment on: (1) the feasibility, limitations and cost of longer-term
     number portability solutions; (2) the feasibility, limitations, and costs of interim
     number portability measures; and (3) issues associated with a transition to a
     permanent number portability environment.
     
          Finally, the NPRM tentatively concludes that service provider portability of
     900 and 500 numbers is beneficial for customers of those services.  The NPRM seeks
     information to determine whether the public interest would be served by mandating
     portability for 900 and 500 services, and invites comment on the costs of deploying
     number portability for these services and other implementation issues.
     
     
          Action by the Commission July 13, 1995 by Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
     (FCC 95-284).  Chairman Hundt, Commissioners Quello, Barrett, Ness, and Chong.
     
                                    - FCC -
     
     News Media contact:  Susan Lewis Sallet at (202) 418-1500.
     Common Carrier Bureau contacts:  Matthew J. Harthun at (202) 418-1590 and
     Carol E. Mattey at (202) 418-1580.