[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3482 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3482

     To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to facilitate number 
   portability in order to increase consumer choice of voice service 
                               provider.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 6, 2007

Mrs. Bono (for herself and Mr. Pallone) introduced the following bill; 
       which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to facilitate number 
   portability in order to increase consumer choice of voice service 
                               provider.

    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 ``Same Number Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. VOICE SERVICE NUMBER PORTABILITY.

    (a) In General.--Title VII of the Communications Act of 1934 (47 
U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 714 the 
following:

``SEC. 715. NUMBER PORTABILITY.

    ``(a) In General.--A provider of voice services has the duty to 
provide, to the extent technically feasible, number portability in 
accordance with requirements prescribed by the Commission.
    ``(b) Standards.--
            ``(1) In general.--Within 270 days after the date of 
        enactment of the Same Number Act of 2007, to facilitate 
        consumer choice among voice service providers the Commission 
        shall establish number portability performance standards for 
        voice service providers that, at a minimum--
                    ``(A) require voice service providers to port 
                numbers in an expeditious and efficient manner that is 
                technically feasible;
                    ``(B) institute a uniform porting process in which 
                the porting-out provider may require only the minimum 
                information necessary to validate the requesting 
                customer and complete the port;
                    ``(C) prohibit the porting-out provider from 
                deactivating and removing a number from its switch for 
                at least forty-eight (48) hours after the scheduled 
                port request is completed; and
                    ``(D) encourage the reasonable automation of the 
                porting process.
            ``(2) Flexibility.--In adopting performance standards under 
        paragraph (1), the Commission may--
                    ``(A) take into account differences between simple 
                and complex ports; and
                    ``(B) grant a waiver of such standards for any 
                provider or class of providers that can show that such 
                standards would result in unreasonable compliance costs 
                for that provider or class, except that any such waiver 
                shall be of limited duration.
            ``(3) Public access to timeframes.--The Commission shall 
        make available to the public on its Internet website any 
        standard timeframes established by the Commission under 
        paragraph (1).
    ``(c) Porting Reporting.--
            ``(1) Providers.--Beginning 1 year after the date on which 
        the Commission issues a final rule under subsection (b) 
        establishing number portability performance standards for voice 
        service providers, a voice service provider shall submit a 
        report each year to the Commission on its number portability 
        activity during the preceding 12 months, including a statement 
        of the number of ports it failed to complete within the time 
        required by the standards, and an explanation of the reason for 
        such failures.
            ``(2) Commission.--Beginning 1 year after the date on which 
        the Commission issues the final rule under subsection (b), the 
        Commission shall submit a report each year to the Senate 
        Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the 
        House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce on 
        the effectiveness and efficiency of the number portability 
        performance standards for voice service providers established 
        under this section.
            ``(3) Sunset.--The requirements of this subsection shall 
        cease to apply 60 months after the date on which the Commission 
        issues such final rule.
    ``(d) Numbering Administration.--
            ``(1) Commission authority and jurisdiction.--The 
        Commission shall designate 1 or more impartial entities to 
        administer telecommunications and voice service numbering and 
        to ensure that numbers are available on an equitable basis. The 
        Commission has exclusive jurisdiction of those portions of the 
        North American Numbering Plan that pertain to the United 
        States. Nothing in this subsection precludes the Commission 
        from delegating to State Commission or other entities all or a 
        portion of such jurisdiction.
            ``(2) Costs.--The costs of establishing numbering 
        administration arrangements and number portability shall be 
        borne by all voice service providers on a competitively neutral 
        basis, as determined by the Commission.
            ``(3) Universal emergency telephone number.--The Commission 
        and any agency or entity to which the Commission has delegated 
        authority under section 715(e) shall designate 9-1-1 as the 
        universal emergency telephone number within the United States 
        for reporting an emergency to appropriate authorities and 
        requesting assistance. The designation shall apply to both 
        wireline and wireless telephone service. In making the 
        designation, the Commission (and any such agency or entity) 
        shall provide appropriate transition periods for areas in which 
        9-1-1 is not in use as an emergency telephone number on the 
        date of enactment of the Wireless Communications and Public 
        Safety Act of 1999.
    ``(e) Voice Service Defined.--In this section, the term `voice 
service' means--
            ``(1) a telecommunications service; or
            ``(2) any service that is not a telecommunications service, 
        but that otherwise is an IP-enabled voice service as defined in 
        section 9.3 of the Commission's regulations (47 C.F.R. 9.3), as 
        those regulations may be amended by the Commission from time to 
        time.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 251 of the Communications Act 
of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251) is amended--
            (1) by striking subsection (b)(2) and redesignating 
        paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of subsection (b) as paragraphs 
        (2), (3), and (4), respectively; and
            (2) by striking subsection (e) and redesignating 
        subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i) as subsections (e), (f), 
        (g), and (h), respectively.
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