II 

Calendar No. 468 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1769 

[Report No. 110–219] 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to facilitate number portability 

in order to increase consumer choice of voice service provider. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 11, 2007 

Mr. STEVENS (for himself and Mr. INOUYE) introduced the following bill; 

which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, 

Science, and Transportation 

NOVEMBER 2, 2007 

Reported by Mr. INOUYE, without amendment 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to facilitate 

number portability in order to increase consumer choice 

of voice service provider. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Same Number Act of 

5 2007’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. VOICE SERVICE NUMBER PORTABILITY. 

2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Communications 

3 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by insert4 ing after section 714 the following: 

5 ‘‘SEC. 715. NUMBER PORTABILITY. 

6 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A provider of voice services has 

7 the duty to provide, to the extent technically feasible, num8 ber portability in accordance with requirements prescribed 

9 by the Commission. 

10 ‘‘(b) STANDARDS.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Within 270 days after the 

12 date of enactment of the Same Number Act of 2007, 

13 to facilitate consumer choice among voice service 

14 providers the Commission shall establish number 

15 portability performance standards for voice service 

16 providers that, at a minimum— 

17 ‘‘(A) identify classes of ports; 

18 ‘‘(B) where appropriate, establish expedi19 tious time frames for each class of port, which 

20 may include timeframes for different stages of 

21 the porting; 

22 ‘‘(C) establish requirements governing the 

23 exchange of data between voice service pro24 viders in connection with porting a number, in25 cluding any limits on customer validation fields 


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1 or other data fields that may be required by 

2 voice service providers; and 

3 ‘‘(D) encourage the reasonable automation 

4 of the porting process. 

5 ‘‘(2) FLEXIBILITY.—In adopting performance 

6 standards under paragraph (1), the Commission 

7 may establish more flexible standards for different 

8 classes of providers within a type of voice service 

9 provider if the Commission determines that the uni10 form application of a single standard or time frame 

11 for compliance would result in unreasonable compli12 ance costs for a class of providers. 

13 ‘‘(3) PUBLIC ACCESS TO TIMEFRAMES.—The 

14 Commission shall make available to the public on its 

15 Internet website any standard timeframes estab16 lished by the Commission under paragraph (1). 

17 ‘‘(c) PORTING REPORTING.— 

18 ‘‘(1) PROVIDERS.—Beginning 1 year after the 

19 date on which the Commission issues a final rule 

20 under subsection (b) establishing number portability 

21 performance standards for voice service providers, a 

22 voice service provider shall submit a report each year 

23 to the Commission on its number portability activity 

24 during the preceding 12 months, including a state25 ment of the number of ports it failed to complete 


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1 within the time required by the standards, and an 

2 explanation of the reason for such failures. 

3 ‘‘(2) COMMISSION.—Beginning 1 year after the 

4 date on which the Commission issues the final rule 

5 under subsection (b), the Commission shall submit a 

6 report each year to the Senate Committee on Com7 merce, Science, and Transportation and the House 

8 of Representatives Committee on Energy and Com9 merce on the effectiveness and efficiency of the num10 ber portability performance standards for voice serv11 ice providers established under this section. 

12 ‘‘(3) SUNSET.—The requirements of this sub13 section shall cease to apply 60 months after the date 

14 on which the Commission issues such final rule. 

15 ‘‘(d) NUMBERING ADMINISTRATION.— 

16 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION AUTHORITY AND JURISDIC17 TION.—The Commission shall designate 1 or more 

18 impartial entities to administer telecommunications 

19 and voice service numbering and to ensure that 

20 numbers are available on an equitable basis. The 

21 Commission has exclusive jurisdiction of those por22 tions of the North American Numbering Plan that 

23 pertain to the United States. Nothing in this sub24 section precludes the Commission from delegating to 


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1 State Commission or other entities all or a portion 

2 of such jurisdiction. 

3 ‘‘(2) COSTS.—The costs of establishing num4 bering administration arrangements and number 

5 portability shall be borne by all voice service pro6 viders on a competitively neutral basis, as deter7 mined by the Commission. 

8 ‘‘(3) UNIVERSAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE

9 NUMBER.—The Commission and any agency or enti10 ty to which the Commission has delegated authority 

11 under section 715(e) shall designate 9–1–1 as the 

12 universal emergency telephone number within the 

13 United States for reporting an emergency to appro14 priate authorities and requesting assistance. The 

15 designation shall apply to both wireline and wireless 

16 telephone service. In making the designation, the 

17 Commission (and any such agency or entity) shall 

18 provide appropriate transition periods for areas in 

19 which 9–1–1 is not in use as an emergency tele20 phone number on the date of enactment of the Wire21 less Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999. 

22 ‘‘(e) VOICE SERVICE DEFINED.—In this section, the 

23 term ‘voice service’ means— 

24 ‘‘(1) a telecommunications service; or 


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1 ‘‘(2) any service that is not a telecommuni2 cations service, but that otherwise is an IP-enabled 

3 voice service as defined in section 9.3 of the Com4 mission’s regulations (47 C.F.R. 9.3), as those regu5 lations may be amended by the Commission from 

6 time to time.’’. 

7 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 251 of the 

8 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251) is amend9 ed— 

10 (1) by striking subsection (b)(2) and redesig11 nating paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of subsection (b) 

12 as paragraphs (2), (3), and (4), respectively; and 

13 (2) by striking subsection (e) and redesignating 

14 subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i) as subsections (e), 

15 (f), (g), and (h), respectively. 


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bajohnson on PROD1PC71 with BILLS
Calendar No. 468 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1769 

[Report No. 110

–219] 

A BILL 

To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to faconsumer choice of voice service provider. cilitate number portability in order to increase 

NOVEMBER 2, 2007 

Reported without amendment 


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