Warming to WNP

At least one GlobalXChange vendor was at PCIA to remind service providers of an impending FCC mandate. Although the wireless-number-portability (WNP)-implementation deadline is still two years away, the deployment schedule calls for providers to begin internal testing in three months. Lost in the show's data craze, perhaps, was Telcordia's new WNP service-management gateway. The gateway promises to make porting easy for providers through an automated process that will meet the industry's required 2 1/2-hour time frame to port a number from the old provider to the new one. The gateway also manages porting notifications between providers and the regional Number Portability Administration Centers.

Bryan Mordecai, Telcordia director of product marketing, related that service providers are becoming increasingly more active when it comes to WNP.

"In the last month, major carriers have been calling us," he said. "The tide is beginning to change a little."

With the majority of their focus on revenue-generating endeavors, providers likely will continue to procrastinate on WNP. Mordecai, though, doesn't believe a last-minute request will put pressure on WNP vendors. He believes the strain will fall on the providers themselves should they continue to dally on WNP.