TELECOMMUNICATIONS

FCC Approves ‘Number Portability’: As expected, the Federal Communications Commission ordered the nation’s telephone companies to phase in a new call-routing system that will enable residential and business users to keep their old telephone numbers even if they switch phone carriers. The order, which requires carriers to start phasing in the system in the 100 largest metropolitan areas by Oct. 1, 1997, paves the way for further implementation of the recently enacted telecommunications reforms that mandate removal of regulatory barriers that have barred local phone competition among long-distance carriers, cable operators and other local phone company rivals.