II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1769 

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 

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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. VOICE SERVICE NUMBER PORTABILITY. 

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

8 Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by insert9 ing after section 714 the following: 

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1 ‘‘SEC. 715. NUMBER PORTABILITY. 

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

3 the duty to provide, to the extent technically feasible, num4 ber portability in accordance with requirements prescribed 

5 by the Commission. 

6 ‘‘(b) STANDARDS.— 

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

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

9 to facilitate consumer choice among voice service 

10 providers the Commission shall establish number 

11 portability performance standards for voice service 

12 providers that, at a minimum— 

13 ‘‘(A) identify classes of ports; 

14 ‘‘(B) where appropriate, establish expedi15 tious time frames for each class of port, which 

16 may include timeframes for different stages of 

17 the porting; 

18 ‘‘(C) establish requirements governing the 

19 exchange of data between voice service pro20 viders in connection with porting a number, in21 cluding any limits on customer validation fields 

22 or other data fields that may be required by 

23 voice service providers; and 

24 ‘‘(D) encourage the reasonable automation 

25 of the porting process. 

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

2 standards under paragraph (1), the Commission 

3 may establish more flexible standards for different 

4 classes of providers within a type of voice service 

5 provider if the Commission determines that the uni6 form application of a single standard or time frame 

7 for compliance would result in unreasonable compli8 ance costs for a class of providers. 

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

10 Commission shall make available to the public on its 

11 Internet website any standard timeframes estab12 lished by the Commission under paragraph (1). 

13 ‘‘(c) PORTING REPORTING.— 

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

15 date on which the Commission issues a final rule 

16 under subsection (b) establishing number portability 

17 performance standards for voice service providers, a 

18 voice service provider shall submit a report each year 

19 to the Commission on its number portability activity 

20 during the preceding 12 months, including a state21 ment of the number of ports it failed to complete 

22 within the time required by the standards, and an 

23 explanation of the reason for such failures. 

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

25 date on which the Commission issues the final rule 

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

2 report each year to the Senate Committee on Com3 merce, Science, and Transportation and the House 

4 of Representatives Committee on Energy and Com5 merce on the effectiveness and efficiency of the num6 ber portability performance standards for voice serv7 ice providers established under this section. 

8 ‘‘(3) SUNSET.—The requirements of this sub9 section shall cease to apply 60 months after the date 

10 on which the Commission issues such final rule. 

11 ‘‘(d) NUMBERING ADMINISTRATION.— 

12 ‘‘(1) COMMISSION AUTHORITY AND JURISDIC13 TION.—The Commission shall designate 1 or more 

14 impartial entities to administer telecommunications 

15 and voice service numbering and to ensure that 

16 numbers are available on an equitable basis. The 

17 Commission has exclusive jurisdiction of those por18 tions of the North American Numbering Plan that 

19 pertain to the United States. Nothing in this sub20 section precludes the Commission from delegating to 

21 State Commission or other entities all or a portion 

22 of such jurisdiction. 

23 ‘‘(2) COSTS.—The costs of establishing num24 bering administration arrangements and number 

25 portability shall be borne by all voice service promstockstill on PROD1PC66 with BILLS

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1 viders on a competitively neutral basis, as deter2 mined by the Commission. 

3 ‘‘(3) UNIVERSAL EMERGENCY TELEPHONE

4 NUMBER.—The Commission and any agency or enti5 ty to which the Commission has delegated authority 

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

7 universal emergency telephone number within the 

8 United States for reporting an emergency to appro9 priate authorities and requesting assistance. The 

10 designation shall apply to both wireline and wireless 

11 telephone service. In making the designation, the 

12 Commission (and any such agency or entity) shall 

13 provide appropriate transition periods for areas in 

14 which 9–1–1 is not in use as an emergency tele15 phone number on the date of enactment of the Wire16 less Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999. 

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

18 term ‘voice service’ means— 

19 ‘‘(1) a telecommunications service; or 

20 ‘‘(2) any service that is not a telecommuni21 cations service, but that otherwise is an IP-enabled 

22 voice service as defined in section 9.3 of the Com23 mission’s regulations (47 C.F.R. 9.3), as those regu24 lations may be amended by the Commission from 

25 time to time.’’. 

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

2 Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251) is amend3 ed— 

4 (1) by striking subsection (b)(2) and redesig5 nating paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of subsection (b) 

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

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

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

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

Æ 

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