I 111th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2357 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES May 12, 2009 Mrs. Bono Mack 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.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the Same Number Act of 2009.

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:

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 60 days after the date of enactment of the Same Number Act of 2009, to facilitate consumer choice among voice service providers the Commission shall adopt a report and order in the rulemaking proceeding considering an intermodal porting interval (WT Docket 07–243, et al. (released November 7, 2007)) to establish number portability performance standards for voice service providers that— (A)adopts a porting interval for wireline-to-wireline and intermodal simple port requests that is no greater than the tentative conclusion regarding such interval proposed by the Commission in such proceeding; (B)prohibit the porting-out provider from deactivating and removing a number from its switch for at least 48 hours after the scheduled port request is completed; and (C)encourage the reasonable automation of the porting process. (2)

Streamlined porting process

(A)

Development of requirements

Not later than 45 days after such date of enactment, the Commission shall direct the North American Numbering Council to develop a streamlined and standardized number porting process and report back to the Commission within 180 days after the Council receives such direction. Such process shall— (i)include the establishment of a uniform set of provisioning fields that is the minimum number of fields necessary to accomplish a port; and (ii)prohibit a porting-out voice service provider from imposing additional provisioning fields on the porting-in voice service provider. (B)

Adoption by commission

Not later than 45 days after the Commission receives the report required by subparagraph (A), the Commission shall codify the number porting process developed by the North American Numbering Council as a requirement in its rules. The Commission may thereafter prescribe such modifications to such number porting process as the Commission determines, after providing notice and opportunity for public comment, necessary to streamline porting. (3)

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. (4)

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)

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. (2)

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 this subsection 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. (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 CFR 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.