Where's My Local # Portability
Today marks the first anniversary of wireless number portability in the U.S. - an option used by about 8.5 million people to switch carriers. Of that total, 732,000 apparently gave up their home service to go completely wireless. Given there are about 170 million wireless users in the U.S., LNP has been far from the mayhem the carriers were worried about.
Here in Canada, LNP portability isn't even on the radar screen - an issue that will no doubt please ARPU-happy carriers. In informal chats with the CRTC, there is little call for among consumers. As a result, LNP is low on the priority list, if it exists as a priority at all.
LNP is another example of the philosophical differences taken by telecom regulators in the U.S. and Canada. Given this situation, it will very interesting to see how the CRTC comes down on Internet telephony in light of the FCC's decision to adopt a laissez-faire approach.
