The Number Portability Administration Center (NPAC) is a function of the

Federal Communications Commission The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains j ...

(FCC) in the United States. It administers the routing of

telephone call A telephone call, phone call, voice call, or simply a call, is the effective use of a connection over a telephone network between the calling party and the called party. Telephone calls are the form of human communication that was first enabl ...

s and

text messages Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile phones, tablet computers, smartwatches, desktop computer, des ...

(SMS) for the

telecommunication Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

s industry and its customers in the regions of the

North American Numbering Plan The North American Numbering Plan (NANP) is an integrated telephone numbering plan for twenty-five regions in twenty countries, primarily in North America and the Caribbean. This group is historically known as World Zone 1, World Numbering Zone ...

. As such, it facilitates

local number portability Local number portability (LNP) for fixed lines, and full mobile number portability (FMNP) for mobile phone lines, refers to the ability of a "customer of record" of an existing fixed-line or mobile telephone number assigned by a local exchange c ...

in the United States and Canada.

History

The

Telecommunications Act of 1996 The Telecommunications Act of 1996 is a United States federal law enacted by the 104th United States Congress on January 3, 1996, and signed into law on February 8, 1996, by President Bill Clinton. It primarily amended Chapter 5 of Title 47 of ...

((b)(2)) established that all

local exchange carrier Local exchange carrier (LEC) is a regulatory term in telecommunications for the local telephone company. In the United States, wireline telephone companies are divided into two large categories: long-distance ( interexchange carrier, or IXCs) ...

s must implement

(LNP) in accordance with the regulations of the

(FCC). Subsequently, the FCC selected

Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American Arms industry, defense and aerospace manufacturer with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta on March 15, 1995. It is headquartered in North ...

as the LNP administrator. The Number Portability Administration Center was originally implemented by the Communications Industry Services (CIS) division of Lockheed Martin in 1997. In 1998, Lockheed Martin formed a separate company,

Neustar Neustar, Inc. is an American technology company that provides real-time information and analytics for risk, digital performance, defense, telecommunications, entertainment, and marketing industries, and also provides clearinghouse and directory se ...

, for the management of the NPAC. At the time the work constituted the first database and registry to enable local number portability for the United States and Canada. The database contains the data for routing, rating, and billing telephone calls to

telephone number A telephone number is the address of a Telecommunications, telecommunication endpoint, such as a telephone, in a telephone network, such as the public switched telephone network (PSTN). A telephone number typically consists of a Number, sequ ...

s that are no longer assigned to the telecommunication carrier that originally received the central office prefix or thousands-block allocation. On March 26, 2015, the FCC approved the recommendation of the

North American Numbering Council The North American Numbering Council is an advisory committee of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) of the United States, chartered in 1995. Its function is to develop and recommend efficient and fair administrative procedures in the admin ...

(NANC) to award the contract to

Telcordia Technologies iconectiv supplies communications providers with network planning and management services. The company’s cloud-based information as a service network and operations management and numbering solutions span trusted communications, digital identi ...

, doing business as

iconectiv iconectiv supplies communications providers with network planning and management services. The company’s cloud-based information as a service network and operations management and numbering solutions span trusted communications, digital identi ...

, as the next Local Number Portability Administrator (LNPA), after 18 years of management by Neustar. The reasons for the change were cited as cost savings. With commission oversight, North American Portability Management, LLC (NAPM) negotiated the terms of a

Master service agreement A master service agreement (MSA), sometimes known as a framework agreement, is a contract reached between parties, in which the parties agree to most of the terms that will govern future transactions or future agreements. A master agreement de ...

(MSA) with iconectiv. The MSA was submitted to the FCC for review and approval in March 2016. The iconectiv contract was finalized in August 2016. iconectiv officially became the administrator of the NPAC on May 25, 2018.

References

{{reflist

External links

Number Portability Administration Center
* Telephone numbers