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 SEPARATE  STATEMENT  OF  COMMISSIONER  JONATHAN  S.  ADELSTEIN 
 Re:  In  re  Telephone  Number  Portability;  CTIA  Petitions  for  Declaratory  Ruling  on  Wireline-Wireless  Porting  Issues;  CC  Docket  No.  95-  116 
 I  am  pleased  to  support  this  Order  because  it  clarifies  that  our  rules  and  policies  provide  for  enhanced  number  portability  opportunities  for  American  consumers.  Specifically,  we  enable 
 consumers  to  port  their  wireline  telephone  numbers  to  local  wireless  service  providers.  We  also  affirm  that  wireless  carriers  are  required  to  port  telephone  numbers  to  wireline  carriers  but 
 recognize  that  wireline  carriers  are  only  able  to  receive  those  numbers  from  wireless  carriers  on  a  limited  basis.  Finally,  we  rightly  seek  comment  on  how  to  deal  with  these  limitations  and  further 
 facilitate  wireless-  to-  wireline  porting. 
 I  believe  that  our  decision  is  consistent  with  Section  251(  b)  of  the  Communications  Act,  which  requires  local  exchange  carriers  (LECs)  to  provide  local  number  portability  to  the  extent 
 technically  feasible.  However,  I  do  recognize  that  there  may  be  certain  limitations  on  the  ability  of  the  nations’  smallest  LECs  to  technically  provide  local  number  portability.  In  this  regard,  I 
 am  extremely  pleased  we  made  the  decision  to  waive  until  May  24,  2004,  the  requirement  of  LECs  operating  in  areas  outside  of  the  largest  100  MSAs  to  port  numbers  to  wireless  carriers  that 
 do  not  have  a  point  of  interconnection  or  numbering  resource  in  the  rate  center  where  the  LEC  customer’s  wireline  number  is  provisioned. 


 I  recognize  that  there  may  be  other  compelling  circumstances  that  make  it  disproportionately  difficult  for  these  same  LECs  to  provide  full  number  portability.  Consequently,  I  am  pleased  we 
 agreed  to  the  language  in  the  item  recognizing  that  those  wireline  carriers  may  need  to  file  additional  waivers  of  our  LNP  requirement. 


 I  remain  concerned,  however,  that  today’s  clarification  of  our  LNP  rules  and  obligations  will  exacerbate  the  so-  called  “rating  and  routing”  problem  for  wireless  calls  that  are  rated  local,  but 
 are  in  fact  carried  outside  of  wireline  rate  centers.  While  I  appreciate  the  language  in  the  Order  that  clarifies  that  ported  numbers  must  remain  rated  to  the  original  rate  center,  the  rating  and 
 routing  issue  continues  to  remain  unresolved  for  rural  wireline  carriers  as  well  as  neighboring  LECs  and  the  wireless  carriers  whose  calls  are  being  carried.  I  believe  that  we  must  redouble  our 
 efforts  to  resolve  this  critical  intercarrier  compensation  issue  as  quickly  and  comprehensively  as  possible. 


 Finally,  I  take  very  seriously  the  concerns  of  those  wireline  carriers  that  have  argued  wireline-  to-wireless  number  portability  should  be  limited  pending  the  resolution  of  issues  associated  with 
 full  wireless-  to-  wireline  porting.  While  I  do  not  believe  that  these  concerns  outweigh  the  very  significant  benefits  to  American  consumers  that  our  clarification  provides  today,  I  do  want  to 
 highlight  my  keen  interest  in  working  both  with  industry  and  the  Chairman  and  my  fellow  Commissioners  on  solutions  to  address  this  inequity.  The  Commission  should  constantly  strive 
 to  level  the  proverbial  playing  field,  and  the  situation  presented  by  our  LNP  rules  and  policies  should  not  be  any  different. 
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