[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1221 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1221

To provide telephone number portability for wireless telephone service.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 10, 2003

  Mr. Schumer introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 
   referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide telephone number portability for wireless telephone service.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Wireless Telephone Number 
Portability Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.

    (a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) The lack of wireless telephone number portability--the 
        capacity of a consumer to retain a wireless telephone number 
        when changing wireless telephone service providers--is a 
        barrier to competition in the market for wireless telephone 
        service. The lack of number portability acts as a disincentive 
        for wireless telephone service providers to improve the quality 
        of their wireless telephone service.
            (2) The lack of wireless telephone number portability 
        imposes significant costs on individual consumers and 
        businesses looking to change wireless telephone service 
        providers. More than half of business wireless telephone users 
        report that number portability would make them more likely to 
        change wireless telephone service providers.
    (b) Purpose.--The purpose of this Act is to ensure that consumers 
are able to keep their phone numbers when switching telecommunications 
carriers.

SEC. 3. TELEPHONE NUMBER PORTABILITY FOR WIRELESS TELEPHONE SERVICE.

    (a) Requirement in Largest Markets.--Commencing not later than six 
months after the date of the enactment of this Act, or November 24, 
2003, whichever is earlier, the Federal Communications Commission shall 
require each wireless telephone service provider offering service in 
one of the 100 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA), as defined 
by the Bureau of the Census, to provide consumers with the option to 
port telephone numbers between wireless telephone service providers by 
implementing wireless telephone number portability throughout the 
networks of wireless telephone service providers in each of such 100 
largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas.
    (b) Other Markets.--
            (1) Requirement.--Commencing not later than 18 months after 
        the date of the enactment of this Act, or November 24, 2004, 
        whichever is earlier, the Commission shall require each 
        wireless telephone service provider in a Metropolitan 
        Statistical Area described in paragraph (2) to provide 
        customers with the option to port their telephone number 
        between wireless telephone service providers by implementing 
        wireless telephone number portability throughout the networks 
        of wireless telephone service providers in such Metropolitan 
        Statistical Area.
            (2) Covered metropolitan statistical areas.--A Metropolitan 
        Statistical Area described in this paragraph is a Metropolitan 
        Statistical Area not covered by subsection (a) in which three 
        or more wireless telephone services providers provide wireless 
        telephone service.
    (c) Requirements Not Dependent on Other Carrier Requests.--The 
requirements in subsections (a) and (b) shall be implemented in each 
Metropolitan Statistical Area referred to in the subsection concerned 
without regard to the receipt of a request from any telecommunications 
carrier in such Metropolitan Statistical Area for wireless telephone 
number portability.
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