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 NEWS  News  media  Information  202  /  418-  0500  Fax-  On-  Demand  202  /  418-  2830  TTY  202/  418-  2555  Internet:  http://  www.  fcc.  gov  ftp.  fcc.  gov  Federal  Communications  Commission  445  12  th  Street,  S.  W.  Washington,  D.  C.  20554  This  is  an  unofficial  announcement  of  Commission  action.  Release  of  the  full  text  of  a  Commission  order  constitutes  official  action.  See  MCI  v.  FCC.  515  F  2d  385  (D.  C.  Circ  1974).  FOR  IMMEDIATE  RELEASE  NEWS  MEDIA  CONTACTS  July  15,  2003  David  Fiske  at  (202)  418-  0513 
 Mike  Balmoris  at  (202)  418-  0253 
 STATEMENT  OF  FCC  CHAIRMAN  MICHAEL  K.  POWELL  COMMENDING  THE  NORTH  AMERICAN  NUMBERING  COUNCIL 
 Washington,  DC  –  The  North  American  Numbering  Council  (NANC),  as  the  body  charged  with  oversight  of  the  North  American  Numbering  Plan  Administrator  (NANPA),  plays 
 an  instrumental  role  in  collecting  data  from  industry,  state  regulatory  commissions  and  consumer  groups.  This  data  is  used  to  evaluate  NANPA’s  performance  on  an  annual  basis,  and  it  is  vitally 
 important  that  this  information  is  complete  and  reliable,  so  that  essential  assets  of  the  telecommunications  industry  –  telephone  numbers  –  are  distributed  fairly,  efficiently  and  in  a 
 competitively  neutral  manner. 
 To  help  with  this  mission,  NANC  recently  instituted  an  innovative  survey  “challenge”  to  boost  participation  in  the  survey.  And  for  the  second  straight  year,  NARUC  has  come  out  on  top 
 and  deserves  congratulations  for  its  repeat  championship.  The  other  industry  trade  association  participants,  CTIA,  USTA,  ALTS,  CompTel,  OPASTCO,  and  NCTA  also  deserve  mention  for 
 their  members’  greatly  improved  participation  in  the  survey  this  year. 
 NANC  has  been  innovative  and  proactive  in  other  contexts  as  well.  For  example,  NANC  devised  the  Thousand  Block  Pooling  System  that  allows  phone  numbers  to  be  assigned  1,000  at  a 
 time  rather  than  blocks  of  10,000.  This  has  substantially  reduced  the  threat  of  number  exhaust  and  has  slowed  down  the  need  for  contentious,  time-  consuming  and  confusing  area  code  splits. 


 In  addition,  since  1998,  the  NANC  has  prepared  three  in-  depth  reports  on  the  integration  of  wireless  and  wireline  number  portability.  The  observations  and  conclusions  in  these  reports 
 have  formed  the  foundations  for  the  Commission’s  critical  decisions  in  the  Numbering  Resource  Optimization  Orders.  As  we  approach  the  November  24,  2003  deadline  for  wireless  Local 
 Number  Portability,  the  NANC  is  continuing  to  play  a  pivotal  role  by  helping  the  industry  prepare  for  the  porting  of  telephone  numbers  between  wireless  and  wireline  platforms.  We  look 
 forward  to  continuing  this  fruitful  partnership. 


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