LNP: Is it Time Yet?

Time and tide wait for no man.... Time is money.... You can't stop the hands of time. In discussing local number portability (LNP) for wireless carriers, all the time-related cliches come into play.

The clock is ticking.... If you've got the money, I've got the time.... Timing is everything.

If you're a wireless carrier without a plan for dealing with LNP, it might be time to get one.

LNP allows customers to switch carriers in their local areas while still maintaining their own phone numbers. Mandated in the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and designed to foster competition between local carriers, it applies to both wireline and wireless carriers, though the implementation timetable requires compliance by the wireline carriers first.

CTIA recently asked the FCC for forbearance on LNP for wireless carriers until after the build-out period -- about two years -- and asked the commission to revisit the issue at that time to determine if LNP is needed at all. Those requests relate to the second phase of the wireless LNP scenario -- the ability to port existing phone numbers from one carrier to another.

It's Phase I that's causing concern now. In Phase I, carriers must deliver wireless calls to wireline numbers that have been ported.

For wireless carriers to actually accomplish this in-house, network-engineering upgrades are required to support the number portability query protocols. Work continues on these standards, and the first switch upgrades are expected later this year. For Phase II, assuming it occurs, more extensive MSC upgrades will be required.

WIRELINE LNP IMMINENT On the wireline side, LNP is imminent. It is to be available in the first seven markets -- Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City and Philadelphia -- no later than March 31 of this year. Though wireless carriers currently are not required to offer service-provider LNP until June 30, 1999, they will be affected as soon as wireline carriers in their areas start porting numbers.

The FCC has mandated that the N-1 carrier -- the carrier in the call-routing process immediately preceding the terminating carrier -- has the responsibility for the number portability database queries to assure correct call delivery. This means the wireless carrier is responsible when wireless calls are delivered to ported wireline numbers. The FCC also ruled that if the N-l carrier relies on some other entity to perform the query, such as the incumbent LEC (ILEC), that entity can charge the N-l carrier.

Initially, most wireless carriers will have to rely on the ILECs to make the database dips. The ILECs, in turn, are now in the process of filing tariffs for dip charges that likely will range from $0.003 up to $0.018 or more per dip.

AG Communication Systems (AGCS) has developed a white paper that outlines some potential costs wireless carriers will face with these charges. AGCS pointed out that the volume of outgoing calls impacted by LNP is greater than just those made to the actual ported numbers. Once one number in an NPA-NXX block is ported from one carrier to another, all calls to that 10,000-number block will require database dips. Current market statistics indicate about 80% of all wireless-initiated calls go to wireline numbers, and 90% of all calls are intra-LATA (local).

To determine your potential costs for database dipping, use the following formula, substituting your own carrier-specific values for the industry averages used below:

CPSDxPKCxPWLxEW = MDVM

CPSD = 2.25 (Number of calls per subscriber per day -- industry figures range from 2.0 to 2.5)

PLC = 90% (Percent of outbound calls that are local)

PWL = 80% (Percent of outbound calls going to wireline numbers)

EWD =25 (Number of equivalent work days per month)

Multiplying these values together provides the monthly dip volume multiplier (MDVM), the expected number of monthly dips generated by each wireless subscriber in a carrier's network:

MDVM=40.5

You can estimate your potential monthly database charges by applying the value that most closely approximates your expected dip volume in the graph on page 140.

DROPPED CALL POTENTIAL Another area of possible concern in Phase I is the potential for dropped calls. When a call is made to a ported NPA-NXX and the N-1 carrier does not perform the necessary query, the call is routed by default to the ILEC that originally serviced the telephone number. The ILEC can either perform the query or "block" the call. While blocking is allowed only when there is a chance that network reliability is likely to be impaired, what does that really mean?

Tony Brinkman, Tandem Computers product manager, questioned how a wireline carrier can determine that a specific carrier damaged its network reliability. Technologically speaking, he doesn't know if a method exists for wireline carriers to distinguish these calls. However, he said he believes they will come up with a way.

"SS7 links go into congestion quite frequently, with or without a dip," Brinkman said. "The SS7 protocol is set up so that if there is a congestion level, the network will do call-gapping -- throttle down the traffic on that link for a period of time." But this doesn't mean calls are dropped. The network looks for alternate routes, he said. Still carriers should be aware of the possibility of dropped calls.

Bob Wienski, Illuminet director of intelligent network services, said carriers concerned about dropped calls should consider an LNP service-bureau solution. A service bureau will ensure the calls are directed to the proper carrier so that the LEC won't be doing LRN look-ups on the part of the wireless carriers, he said.

PANIC OR DO NOTHING? Paul Osborn, Stratus Computer business development manager, said wireless carriers have two attitudes toward LNP right now.

"One is panic. 'I've gotta do something because I think I'm going to get a lot of charges for the dips this year,'" he said.

The other is a degree of confidence that they can put off dealing with LNP issues until further down the road.

"Most of the people looking at this aren't looking at the technical side of the solution; they're looking at the economics," said Carl Glaeser, AGCS vice president & general manager of the INgage Business Unit.

"Like any business, you have to weigh the long-term needs against the short-term needs," said Tandem's Brinkman.

If a carrier had a lot of money, it probably would be doing something now. But most carriers are thinking about growing their markets and increasing their market shares more than they're worrying about number portability, he said. How fast will wireline porting take off? How many wireline subscribers will actually port in the first six months -- the first 12 months? These are some of the questions carriers are pondering.

Osborn said the "do nothing" approach might involve working with a service bureau or renting the dip from the ILEC. He warned that this might tie you into a contract, typically a year. If you go this route and porting activity picks up more quickly than you planned, this approach could become an expensive alternative.

With a service bureau, you won't have infrastructure costs, but you also won't be able to integrate your LNP data with any other systems, said Michele Dionne, Evolving Systems marketing communications manager. When you add local service-management-system functionality to your network, not only do you eliminate the dip charges, but also you are able to use the application programming interfaces on it to populate other operational support systems that may need LNP, she said.

Some of the top wireless carriers already have put out RFPs for LNP systems, Osborn said. Some of them will act this year; others will wait, concentrating more on infrastructure now, he said.

PROPER TIMING If you are interested in bringing the LNP system in-house, remember that it takes time. If you're worried about dip charges in 1998, and if you start right now setting up interfaces and making vendor selections, you're probably looking at a couple of quarters to get everything done internally, Osborn said. Integrating LNP into the network and also the OSS infrastructure means eventually you have to deal with service orders, service management, provisioning, repair, rules about disconnect, E-911 and operator services.

Carriers at this month's CTIA show will see several LPN solutions they can ponder. Many vendors have something on the shelf, all ready to go once the switch vendors are ready with the trigger. If you want to do the database dip right now without a switch upgrade, Tandem and AGCS have collaborated on a "triggerless" LNP solution, announced by AGCS in December, that will migrate into a trigger solution when the MSC can support it.

Most of the issues in LNP are on the implementation side with the switch manufacturers, Osborn said. They are the ones that have to implement the LNP trigger, and the earliest that is likely to be available is third or fourth quarter this year.

However, he said that a lot of the standards are already documented, and while switch vendors would like the standards to be settled, it is pretty well-known what's going to be done. Carriers don't need to worry that they'll invest in the wrong thing.

"The difference is at the SCP (service control point) level -- you have a new type of trigger that is IS-41 based -- and that's really the new piece," Osborn said. "At the MSC level, though, you start seeing some of the differences such as the separation of the mobile directory number vs. the MIN. A switch manufacturer will say there still are some issues to be sorted out there."

CTIA REQUEST What about the recent CTIA request for a time extension and possible reconsideration of Phase II LNP? Vendors aren't convinced that Phase II simply will go away.

Stratus Computer's Osborn said the CTIA request made sense because it was reflecting what its membership wanted.

Stratus has been involved in the wireline side of LNP since 1995, he said. The first thing he noticed when attending a wireless LNP meeting a year ago was how little communication apparently existed between wireline and wireless carriers, even with the wireless companies owned by the regional Bell holding companies.

"The wireline folks just went marching on and got done what they needed to," Osborn said. "In their opinion the wireless folks didn't raise a lot of flags, so it's shame on them. Wireless people feel they were left out of the planning process and all this was being forced upon them." A lot of issues, hammered out on the wireline side, were being rehashed.

"I don't think we'll get to a time when Phase II is eliminated," said Paul Florack, director of wireless services for Illuminet. The ability to port numbers has a lot of value in a fully competitive arena.

"It certainly makes wireline displacement a lot more attractive if you can offer wireless to a wireline subscriber, but let him keep his telephone number," Florack said.

"It's a foregone conclusion you will have to do number portability at some time," Brinkman said. The issue is when.

AG Communication Systems' INgage Triggerless Number Portability Solution will help wireless carriers avoid the fees they might otherwise incur from the ILEC for making the database query or "dip" needed to route calls.

If you don't want to pay the LEC to do the number dipping for you, you can put in your own system, said Carl Glaeser, AGCS vice president & general manager of the INgage Business Unit.

"All these cellular companies have cellular switches, and inside these switches there is a database, which contains a person's vital information, numbers, addresses, etc," Glaeser said. "The way number portability usually works is that you go inside that switch, but to do that, you need a link or hook into the MSC. Currently, the switches don't have this."

The AGCS solution leverages the flexibility of the SS7 network to perform number portability database queries using today's switching technology, allowing wireless carriers to delay switch-upgrade costs until full wireless number portability is required.

"Our solution is not an interim solution," Glaeser said. "Carriers buying the solution in the next six months will receive a free upgrade to the IS-41 for the true wireless number portability that is mandated in 1999."

Even if the CTIA successfully eliminates the requirements for wireless number portability, wireless networks still have to deal with the dip charges, Glaeser pointed out.

For information, visit the web site at www.agcs.com, or call 888-888-2427.

Evolving Systems offers wireless carriers a tiered approach to putting local number portability (LNP) in place, according to Michele Dionne, marketing communications manager.

Carriers first will need a local service-management system in order to connect with the seven regional number portability administration centers (NPACs) in the country. NumberManager handles LNP service changes, modifications and disconnects, and communicates with the regional NPACs. NumberManager, along with a related product, NodeMaster, a network-element-management system, can support any type of network element, Dionne said.

OrderPath is order mediation software that provides a fully automated means of integrating existing service-order-entry systems or providing standalone communication to and from the NPACs. OrderPath supplements incoming order information with the necessary LNP data elements and converts the information into a subscription that can be processed easily by the NPACs.

For information, visit the web site at www.evolving.com, or call 303-802-1000.

Illuminet offers a service bureau LNP solution for wireless carriers that are capable of launching the message that will allow them to get the information out of an LNP database, according to Bob Wienski, Illuminet director of intelligent network services.

"We'll have a platform available to them basically on a shared basis so that multiple carriers can access the database, thereby saving the cost of making investments in the infrastructure themselves," he said. " The carrier only has to upgrade the MSC with the appropriate triggering capability."

Though the software is not yet available to make the needed changes in the switch, it should become available midyear, Wienski said. Illuminet is connected to all seven number portability administration centers nationwide today. The carrier only has to worry about sending the IS-41 message out of the switch, and Illuminet will transport it to its LNP databases and return the proper routing information to the MSC.

For information, visit the web site at www.illuminetss7.com, or call 360-493-6000.