FCC Extends Deadline to Keep Cell Numbers
Sparing the wireless industry another brutal round of price wars, federal regulators gave carriers a year before they must permit customers to keep their number when switching mobile-phone providers.
Tuesday’s decision by the Federal Communications Commission angered consumer groups and was a victory for Sprint PCS, Verizon Wireless and other carriers.
They lobbied hard against so-called number portability out of fear that the technology would allow bargain hunting cell-phone subscribers to more easily jump ship if they aren’t faced with the inconvenience of having to switch phone numbers.
“There are a number of ways to keep customers and I suppose inconvenience is one that has proven effective,” said Adam Zawel, a wireless analyst at the Yankee Group consulting firm in Cambridge, Mass. But carriers, he added, will have to find other ways to hold onto their customers, because “even if there is a minor increase in” customer defections “the loss to carriers will be huge.”
The FCC ruling marked the third time the agency extended the number portability deadline.
The FCC originally ordered mobile-phone companies to provide the technology after Congress mandated it in 1996 for traditional phone carriers serving homes and businesses. Wireless companies were first supposed to implement it in June 1999. Now they must install the equipment, which routes wireless calls through a special database that keeps track of assigned numbers, by Nov. 24, 2003.
The FCC decision angered some consumer advocates who say the repeated delays thwart competition and hurt consumer choice.
“It’s the height of hypocrisy for the ... FCC--amid all of the rhetoric about making markets work--preventing consumers from shopping around for the best wireless plan and the lowest price while keeping their phone number,” said Gene Kimmelman, co-director of the Washington office of Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports magazine.
Tuesday’s decision was sparked by a petition filed by Verizon Wireless to eliminate the number portability requirement. In a compromise, the four FCC commissioners declined to drop the number portability requirement but delayed its implementation for a year.
Consumers and carriers blanketed the FCC with nearly 700 comments on the number portability issue over the last year. The agency said the majority of the comments were from wireless consumers.
