I 
111TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2357 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to facilitate number portability 
in order to increase consumer choice of voice service provider. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 12, 2009 
Mrs. BONO MACK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce 
A BILL 
To amend the Communications Act of 1934 to facilitate 
number portability in order to increase consumer choice 
of voice service provider. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Same Number Act of 
2009’’. 
SEC. 2. VOICE SERVICE NUMBER PORTABILITY. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Title VII of the Communications 
Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 601 et seq.) is amended by insert-
ing after section 714 the following: 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
23:22 May 13, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2357.IH
H2357
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
‘‘SEC. 715. NUMBER PORTABILITY. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—A provider of voice services has 
the duty to provide, to the extent technically feasible, num-
ber portability in accordance with requirements prescribed 
by the Commission. 
‘‘(b) STANDARDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Within 60 days after the 
date of enactment of the Same Number Act of 2009, 
to facilitate consumer choice among voice service 
providers the Commission shall adopt a report and 
order in the rulemaking proceeding considering an 
intermodal porting interval (WT Docket 07–243, et 
al. (released November 7, 2007)) to establish num-
ber portability performance standards for voice serv-
ice providers that— 
‘‘(A) adopts a porting interval for wireline- 
to-wireline and intermodal simple port requests 
that is no greater than the tentative conclusion 
regarding such interval proposed by the Com-
mission in such proceeding; 
‘‘(B) prohibit the porting-out provider 
from deactivating and removing a number from 
its switch for at least 48 hours after the sched-
uled port request is completed; and 
‘‘(C) encourage the reasonable automation 
of the porting process. 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
06:26 May 16, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2357.IH
H2357
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
‘‘(2) STREAMLINED PORTING PROCESS.— 
‘‘(A) 
DEVELOPMENT
OF
REQUIRE-
MENTS.—Not later than 45 days after such 
date of enactment, the Commission shall direct 
the North American Numbering Council to de-
velop a streamlined and standardized number 
porting process and report back to the Commis-
sion within 180 days after the Council receives 
such direction. Such process shall— 
‘‘(i) include the establishment of a 
uniform set of provisioning fields that is 
the minimum number of fields necessary to 
accomplish a port; and 
‘‘(ii) prohibit a porting-out voice serv-
ice provider from imposing additional pro-
visioning fields on the porting-in voice 
service provider. 
‘‘(B) ADOPTION
BY
COMMISSION.—Not 
later than 45 days after the Commission re-
ceives the report required by subparagraph (A), 
the Commission shall codify the number porting 
process developed by the North American Num-
bering Council as a requirement in its rules. 
The Commission may thereafter prescribe such 
modifications to such number porting process 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
23:22 May 13, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2357.IH
H2357
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
as the Commission determines, after providing 
notice and opportunity for public comment, nec-
essary to streamline porting. 
‘‘(3) FLEXIBILITY.—In adopting performance 
standards under paragraph (1), the Commission 
may— 
‘‘(A) take into account differences between 
simple and complex ports; and 
‘‘(B) grant a waiver of such standards for 
any provider or class of providers that can show 
that such standards would result in unreason-
able compliance costs for that provider or class, 
except that any such waiver shall be of limited 
duration. 
‘‘(4) PUBLIC
ACCESS
TO
TIMEFRAMES.—The 
Commission shall make available to the public on its 
Internet website any standard timeframes estab-
lished by the Commission under paragraph (1). 
‘‘(c) PORTING REPORTING.— 
‘‘(1) COMMISSION.—Beginning 1 year after the 
date on which the Commission issues the final rule 
under subsection (b), the Commission shall submit a 
report each year to the Senate Committee on Com-
merce, Science, and Transportation and the House 
of Representatives Committee on Energy and Com-
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
23:22 May 13, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2357.IH
H2357
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
merce on the effectiveness and efficiency of the num-
ber portability performance standards for voice serv-
ice providers established under this section. 
‘‘(2) SUNSET.—The requirements of this sub-
section shall cease to apply 60 months after the date 
on which the Commission issues such final rule. 
‘‘(d) NUMBERING ADMINISTRATION.— 
‘‘(1) COMMISSION AUTHORITY AND JURISDIC-
TION.—The Commission shall designate 1 or more 
impartial entities to administer telecommunications 
and voice service numbering and to ensure that 
numbers are available on an equitable basis. The 
Commission has exclusive jurisdiction of those por-
tions of the North American Numbering Plan that 
pertain to the United States. Nothing in this sub-
section precludes the Commission from delegating to 
State Commission or other entities all or a portion 
of such jurisdiction. 
‘‘(2) COSTS.—The costs of establishing num-
bering administration arrangements and number 
portability shall be borne by all voice service pro-
viders on a competitively neutral basis, as deter-
mined by the Commission. 
‘‘(3) 
UNIVERSAL
EMERGENCY
TELEPHONE 
NUMBER.—The Commission and any agency or enti-
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
23:22 May 13, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00005
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2357.IH
H2357
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
ty to which the Commission has delegated authority 
under this subsection shall designate 9–1–1 as the 
universal emergency telephone number within the 
United States for reporting an emergency to appro-
priate authorities and requesting assistance. The 
designation shall apply to both wireline and wireless 
telephone service. 
‘‘(e) VOICE SERVICE DEFINED.—In this section, the 
term ‘voice service’ means— 
‘‘(1) a telecommunications service; or 
‘‘(2) any service that is not a telecommuni-
cations service, but that otherwise is an IP-enabled 
voice service as defined in section 9.3 of the Com-
mission’s regulations (47 CFR 9.3), as those regula-
tions may be amended by the Commission from time 
to time.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 251 of the 
Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 251) is amend-
ed— 
(1) by striking subsection (b)(2) and redesig-
nating paragraphs (3), (4), and (5) of subsection (b) 
as paragraphs (2), (3), and (4), respectively; and 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
23:22 May 13, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00006
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2357.IH
H2357
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS
(2) by striking subsection (e) and redesignating 
subsections (f), (g), (h), and (i) as subsections (e), 
(f), (g), and (h), respectively. 
Æ 
VerDate Nov 24 2008 
23:22 May 13, 2009
Jkt 079200
PO 00000
Frm 00007
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6301
E:\BILLS\H2357.IH
H2357
hsrobinson on PROD1PC76 with BILLS