Winning and keeping subscribers require wireless providers to activate their newly ported subscribers in a timely, trouble-free manner while minimizing their WNP implementation and operating costs. Providing a positive sign-up experience to a new customer necessitates that porting data be efficiently collected and accurately handled during the number-porting process. This, in turn, requires that data be processed and distributed within a wireless provider's operations environment so that appropriate records can be accurately updated.

Technical and logistical issues surrounding WNP are significant and far-reaching—impacting operations, billing systems, provisioning systems, trouble-ticket systems, and beyond. What's more, industry requirements call for porting numbers between wireless providers within 2½ hours. This narrow window also puts pressure on a host of business flows and operations support systems (OSSs), including those for customer care and billing, service activation, and service assurance. To meet these demands, any WNP solution needs to integrate smoothly into the existing OSS environment to help wireless providers to manage porting activities quickly, efficiently, and reliably.

Porting numbers between wireless carriers and between wireless and wireline carriers require a complex set of functions and interfaces:

• Inter-Carrier Communications—Wireless to Wireless: A vital part of accomplishing the porting process is the ability of wireless carriers to request and receive authorization of an impending port. The wireless providers within the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA) developed a new method for obtaining authorization known as the inter-carrier communication process (ICP). The ICP is an electronic exchange of information between the new and old service providers to process the request and response for port authorization. Fields, record layouts, edits, and communication procedures are defined by the ICP. Also, the ICP guidelines assume a rapid exchange of information—e.g., 30 minutes—to facilitate existing wireless business practices.

• Inter-Carrier Communications—Wireline to Wireless: Porting from wireline to wireless carriers could become an important means for wireless carriers to achieve subscriber growth. In wireline operations, inter-carrier communications are facilitated using local service request/firm order commitment (LSR/FOC) forms. For wireline to wireless pre-port authorizations, it is necessary to support the Alliance for Telecommunication Industry Solutions' (ATIS) Ordering and Billing Forum (OBF) guidelines for the exchange of LSR/FOC information. While the OBF guidelines define inter-carrier trading, the specific attributes are part of the service-level agreements (SLAs) between carriers. The LSR/FOC process allows each provider to determine how and what information will be used during each wireline provider's porting process. Therefore, it is important for any WNP solution to be able to manage LSR/FOC information presented in multiple SLA formats.

• Service Order Administration (SOA): This capability is required to interface with the number portability administration centers (NPACs), or regional LNP service management systems. The SOA is the interface between each provider's service-order provisioning system and the NPAC database. It is the point through which ported numbers, NPAC notifications, and information regarding ported subscribers are sent to or from the NPAC. These communications are specified in the North American Numbering Council (NANC) functional requirements specifications (FRS) and the NPAC interoperable interface specifications (IIS) documents. Other key SOA transactions include requests to and from the NPAC, audit requests and responses to correct inaccuracies, and conflict-resolution and outage information.

• OSS Interfaces: These interfaces enable interconnection with a wireless provider's OSS infrastructure to facilitate industry WNP business flows, which include the following:

• Port In: adding a new subscriber with a ported directory number
• Port Out: losing a subscriber who chooses to retain his or her directory number to another carrier
• Disconnect: disconnecting a subscriber who was originally a Port In
• Snapback: processing a returned directory number after a subscriber has been disconnected.

Beyond these key WNP functions, there are several factors that influence the selection of a WNP solution:

• Volume of porting transactions
• Capacity to handle forecasted growth
• Availability of system development and administration resources
• Costs, both capital (hardware and software platforms) and recurring (maintenance, software upgrades)
• Degree of automation in a provider's operations environment
• Customer care and support capabilities
• Trading-partner interconnections (agreements, interfaces, and communications links)
• Solution availability, especially with the industry timeline for WNP implementation in mind

Wireless carriers need to weigh all of these factors as they face the immediate challenge of selecting a solution to implement and manage WNP. At the same time, they must also focus on the capabilities they will need to interconnect with other carriers. This process is leading many wireless carriers to choose between a product-solution and a service-bureau approach.