Small Telco and Consumer Groups Hit FCC LNPA Process as Closed, Seek Documents
Groups representing smaller telcos and consumers stepped up allegations the FCC’s planned local number portability administrator (LNPA) transition from Neustar to Ericsson’s iconectiv is a closed process dominated by large industry players. The LNP Alliance and New America’s Open Technology…
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Institute “are concerned that decisions could be (or are being) made by the largest [North American Portability Management] carriers which would establish a non-neutral LNPA and/or processes and procedures that impose additional costs” on small and midsize (S/M) carriers and consumers. In a filing posted Friday in docket 95-116 that included a 2014 iconectiv white paper, the LNP Alliance and OTI said they had “reason to be concerned that iconectiv could undermine the traditional neutrality of the LNPA because, in the recent past, it has publicly advocated for a non-neutral LNPA arrangement.” The groups again asked the FCC to make public a Transition Oversight Manager Engagement Letter and a proposed iconectiv LNPA contract. “Timing is critical,” the groups said: “If these documents are not made available until after critical gating issues on the LNPA Transition and possibly the IP Transition have already been made, there could be irreparable harm to S/M carriers and consumers. With respect to the Proposed Contract, if review is not permitted until after it has been approved by the Commission, S/M carriers and consumers will be foreclosed from any meaningful input. While the Bureau Staff has previously indicated that portions of the Proposed Contract will be made public, they could not provide a near-term date when it would be made available to the Joint Parties. As time passes, the largest NAPM carriers and the Commission continue to close all other parties out of the process, feeding the suspicions of those outside the process that they may not like the results.” The FCC had no comment Friday.